“Perhaps never since the invention of printing was a printing press employed so extensively as that has been at the Sandwich islands, with so little expense, and so great a certainty that every page of its productions would be read with attention and profit.”
“The language of the islands has been reduced to writing, and in a form so precise, that five vowels and seven consonants, or twelve letters in the whole, represent all the sounds which have yet been discovered in the native tongue.”
“And as each of these letters has a fixed and certain sound, the art of reading, spelling, and writing the language is made far easier than it is with us.” (Barber, 1834)
“On the 7th of January, 1822, a year and eight months from the time of our receiving the governmental permission to enter the field and teach the people, we commenced printing the language in order to give them letters, libraries, and the living oracles in their own tongue, that the nation might read and understand the wonderful works of God.”
“The opening to them of this source of light never known to their ancestors remote or near, occurred while many thousands of the friends of the heathen were on the monthly concert, unitedly praying that the Gospel might have free course and he glorified.”
“It was like laying a corner stone of an important edifice for the nation.” (Bingham)
“A considerable number was present, and among those particularly interested was Ke‘eaumoku, who, after a little instruction from Mr. Loomis, applied the strength of his athletic arm to the lever of a Ramage press, pleased thus to assist in working off a few impressions of the first lessons.”
“These lessons were caught at with eagerness by those who had learned to read by manuscript. Liholiho, Kalanimōku, Boki and other chiefs, and numbers of the people, called to see the new engine, the printing-press, to them a great curiosity.”
“Several were easily induced to undertake to learn the art of printing, and in time succeeded. Most of the printing done at the islands has been done by native hands.” (Bingham)
“Liho-liho was glad to have the chiefs instructed and took 100 copies of the first primer for his friends and attendants. Ka-ahu-manu took 40 for her friends. These probably came from this printing of 500 copies. In the latter part of September, another printing of 2,000 copies was made from the same type.”
“Liho-liho felt a little like the foreigners who did not want the natives instructed. He wanted the education reserved for the chiefs because, according to Mr. Bingham, ‘he would not have the instruction of the people in general come in the way of their cutting sandalwood to pay his debts.’”
“Nevertheless, the flood could not be held back and the privilege of reading and writing rapidly spread among the people.” (Westervelt)
“… until March 20, 1830, scarcely ten years after the mission was commenced, twenty-two distinct books had been printed in the native language, averaging thirty-six small pages, and amounting to three hundred and eighty-seven thousand copies, and ten million two hundred and eighty-seven thousand and eight hundred pages.”
“This printing was executed at Honolulu, where there are two presses (in Hale Pa‘i, the printing house (across King Street from Mission Houses – and later at Hale Pa‘i at Lahainaluna.) But besides this, three-million three-hundred-and-forty-five-thousand pages in the Hawaiian language have been printed in the United States (viz. a large edition of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John) …”
“… which swells the whole amount of printing in this time, for the use of the islanders, to thirteen-millions six-hundred-and-thirty-two-thousand eight-hundred pages.”
“Reckoning the twenty-two distinct works in a continuous series, the number of pages in the series is eight hundred and thirty-two. Of these, forty are elementary, and the rest are portions of Scripture, or else strictly evangelical and most important matter, the best adapted to the condition and wants of the people that could be selected under existing circumstances.” (Barber, 1834)
The mission press printed 10,000-copies of Ka Palapala Hemolele (The Holy Scriptures.) It was 2,331-pages long printed front and back.
Mission Press also printed newspaper, hymnals, schoolbooks, broadsides, fliers, laws, and proclamations. The Mission Presses printed over 113,000,000-sheets of paper in 20-years.
A replica Ramage printing press is at Mission Houses in Honolulu (it was built by students at Honolulu Community College in 1966.) Likewise, Hale Pa‘i in Lahainaluna has early Hawaiian printing displays. (Lots of information here is from Mission Houses, and Barber.)
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Magnificent article Mr. Young! As the Bible says, “The entrance of your Word gives light”! I love Bingham’s quote of laying a cornerstone! Wonderful compilation and research, thank you!