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January 7, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

113,000,000 Sheets of Paper

“Without the printing press, the written Hawaiian language, and a learned people of that time, we would know little about the past.” (Muench)

“The first printing press at the Hawaiian Islands was imported by the American missionaries, and landed from the brig Thaddeus in April, 1820. In style, it was not unlike the first used by Benjamin Franklin.”

“It was set up in a thatched house standing not very far from the old frame Mission house that now stands on King street opposite the Kawaiahaʻo Seminary (where the Mission Memorial Building is today.)” (Parker; The Friend)

“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.” (Bingham)

Standing beside a printing press and observed by an American printer, shipmasters, missionaries, and traders, Chief Ke‘eaumoku put his hand on the press lever, exerted pressure, and printed wet black syllables in Hawaiian and English. (HHS)

At this inauguration there were present his Excellency Governor (Ke‘eaumoku (Gov. Cox,)) a chief of the first rank, with his retinue; some other chiefs and natives; Rev. Hiram Bingham, missionary; Mr. Loomis, printer, (who had just completed setting it up); James Hunnewell; Captain William Henry and Captain Masters (Americans.) (Ballou)

“Edmund Butler … a resident of Maui … also took an interest in this novel scene, while one of the highest chiefs of these islands aided in commencing the printing of his native tongue.” (Gulick)

Mr. Loomis set up the first lesson of a spelling book, or primer, called ‘P-a-pa.’ … It is a sheet four by six inches, having twelve lines, each line having five separate syllables of two letters.”

“This certainly was the first printing done at the Hawaiian Islands, probably the first on the shores of the North Pacific Ocean. A month later Mr. Bingham received a letter from Governor Kuakini (John Adams) of Hawai‘i, who had succeeded in mastering the contents of the first printed sheet.” (Parker: The Friend)

“We are happy to announce to you that, on the first Monday of January (1822), we commenced printing, and, with great satisfaction, have put the first eight pages of the Owhyhee spellingbook into the hands of our pupils”.

Native Hawaiians immediately perceived the importance of “palapala” – document, to write or send a message. “Makai” – “good” – exclaimed Chief Ke‘eaumoku, to thus begin the torrent of print communications that we have today. (HHS)

Thereafter, printing on the first press, a second-hand Ramage, went on continuously for six years, until in 1828 an additional press was sent from Boston. The original press was acquired by the missionary school at Lahainaluna on Maui in 1834.

The presses of the Sandwich Islands Mission in Honolulu and Lahainaluna were the major printers of books in Hawaiian in the Islands until 1858, when the work of printing for the Mission was handed over on a business basis to Henry M. Whitney, a missionary son.

He continued to handle the Hawaiian language books for the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, which had superseded the Sandwich Islands Mission in 1854.

The Bible was translated from the original Greek and Hebrew by the combined efforts of Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston of the Pioneer Company, Artemas Bishop and James Ely of the Second Company, William Richards, Lorrin Andrews, Jonathan Green, and Ephraim Clark of the Third Company, and Sheldon Dibble of the Fourth Company.

Although the work was begun in 1822, the first segment of the Bible, the Gospel of Luke, did not come off the press until 1827. The rest of the New Testament was completed by 1832 and the Old Testament in 1839 (although the date given on the title page is 1838).

“By far the larger part of the great mass of printed matter issued here in the fifty years subsequent to the arrival of Christian teachers was in the form of religious works and school books.”

“Aside from the Scriptures there have been published works on theology, in its different branches, church history, Bible text books and commentaries on the Bible, or parts of it.”

“Much time and labor, too, on the temperance question, with its many phases, and on other social topics, have gone into the printed page, which has found its way among the people with beneficial results to those who had the disposition to read and reflect.”

“Sermons and tracts by the thousands were published and had no lack of readers. Pilgrim’s Progress went into print in the native language among the first of the translated books.”

“Later, works of a secular nature began to issue from the native press and became popular. The stories of Washington, Lincoln. Grant, of Victoria, Napoleon, Xapier and others of the world’s distinguished men and women have been read by the Hawaiian in his native tongue.”

“The ‘Pioneer Boy,’ a story of Lincoln, was translated and published in book form for Hawaiian readers and Robinson Crusoe has also found its readers in the Hawaiian.” (Parker; The Friend)

The mission press printed 10,000-copies of Ka Palapala Hemolele (The Holy Scriptures). It was 2,331-pages long printed front and back.

The 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. (Mission Houses)

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Reproduction_of_Mission_Printing_Press

Filed Under: General, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Economy Tagged With: Press, Paper, Hawaii, Missionaries, Printing, American Protestant Missionaries, Palapala

September 26, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

EO Hall & Son, Ltd

“At the regular meeting of the Prudential Committee, held at the Missionary Rooms, on Tuesday afternoon, May 27, 1834, it was: ‘Resolved that Mr. Edwin O. Hall of the city of New York be appointed an assistant missionary of the Board and designated to the Sandwich Islands, to be employed as a printer in connection with that mission.’”

“‘Resolved that Miss Williams, of the city of New York be appointed an assistant missionary of the Board, with the expectation of her being united in marriage with Mr. Edwin O. Hall, this day appointed to the Sandwich Island mission.’”

“Embarking December 5, 1834, on the ship Hellespont with six other missionaries (Rev. Titus Coan and wife; Henry Dimond and wife. Bookbinder; Miss Lydia Brown. Teacher.; Miss Elizabeth M. Hitchcock. Teacher) comprising the sixth reinforcement (Seventh Company) to the mission, after a voyage of six months, Mr. Hall and his bride reached Honolulu, June 6, 1835.’”

“He at once took charge of the printing office in Honolulu, relieving Mr. Rogers, who was transferred to the branch printing office at the High School at Lahainaluna, Maui. Mrs. Hall’s health failed after a year or two, as she became afflicted with a serious spinal trouble, which prevented her from walking and kept her confined all day on her couch.” (Ballou)

Levi Chamberlain wrote to Rufus Anderson that, “The health of several of the missionaries is in a deranged state … Mrs Hall continues ill and a voyage to the NW Coast is recommended in her case … hoping that the cold of that region will restore (her)”. (Chamberlain)

The Halls arrived in the Oregon Country in 1839. On April 19, 1839, Hiram Bingham, head of the Hawaiʻi mission wrote, “The church & congregation of which I am pastor has recently sent a small but complete printing and binding establishment …”

“… by the hand of Brother Hall, to the Oregon mission, which with other substantial supplies amount to 444,00 doll. The press was a small Hand press presented to this mission but not in use. The expense of the press with one small font of type, was defrayed by about 50 native females …”

“… including Kina‘u or Ka‘ahumanu 2d. This was a very pleasing act of Charity. She gave 10 doll, for herself & 4 for her little daughter Victoria Ka‘ahumanu 3d.” (This is not the same press that Bingham brought on their initial voyage to Hawaiʻi.) Mr. Hall helped set up the press at the Lapwai mission station.

Mrs. Hall suffered from a chronic illness of the spine. To reach various inland destinations she traveled by canoe when possible. She was carried in a hammock from Ft. Walla Walla to Waiilatpu. On November 5, 1839, she gave birth to a daughter. The Halls returned to Hawaii in March 1840. (Whitman Mission)

In 1843, at the time when Admiral Thomas restored the Kingdom, Hall wrote lyrics (sung to the tune of ‘God Save the King’) honoring the Hawaiian Kingdom: Hail! to our rightful king!; We joyful honor bring; This day to thee!; Long live your Majesty!; Long reign this dynasty!; And for posterity; The sceptre be.

It was “Sung at the great cold water luau (‘temperance picnic’) given by H.H.M. Kamehameha III, in Nu‘uanu to several thousands of natives and all the Foreigners including the officers of 4 ships of war. For which Admiral Thomas thanked the ladies and gent who did him the honor.” (August 3, 1843)

EO Hall left the mission in 1849 and on May 19 of that year was appointed director of the Government Printing Office (GPO); his responsibilities included printing The Polynesian, the GPO printed all of Hawaii’s statutes and other official documents. (He left this position on May 19, 1855.) (LOC)

The business of EO Hall & Son, Limited, was commenced in 1852, under the firm name of EO Hall, at the corner of Fort and King streets, Honolulu. For over a year after starting, the business was under the personal charge of Mr. TL Leyman, a half-brother to EO Hall, who at that time was editing the Polynesian newspaper.

In these early years, most of the customers were natives, and besides hardware the stock consisted of dry goods of all kinds and quite an assortment of groceries.

In 1859, William W Hall entered the employ of the firm as clerk, and became partner with his father in 1865, when the name of the firm was changed to EO Hall & Son.

The firm continued to deal in hardware, agricultural Implements, dry goods, leather, paints and oils, sliver-plated ware, wooden ware, tools of all kinds, kerosene oil, etc., until about the year 1878, when dry goods were dropped, except a few staple articles.

In 1880, Mr E Oscar White, a grandson of EO Hall, became an employee of the firm. In 1883 the business was incorporated, and during that same year Edwin Oscar Hall, the founder of the business, died (September 19, 1883) while on a visit to the US at Falmouth, Maine.

The company later put in stock a complete line of ship chandlery, and this has become one of the principal features of the business. This includes a large assortment of manila rope and iron and steel wire rope of all sizes up to four Inches. (Alexander)

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EO Hall and Son Advertisement
EO Hall and Son Advertisement
Polynesian-Merchant_Street-Emmert-1854
Polynesian-Merchant_Street-Emmert-1854
EO Hall and Son-PP-38-6-014-1894
EO Hall and Son-PP-38-6-014-1894
Downtown and Vicinity-Dakin-Fire Insurance- 03 -Map-1899-portion-EO Hall & Son noted
Downtown and Vicinity-Dakin-Fire Insurance- 03 -Map-1899-portion-EO Hall & Son noted
Restoration Anthem-EO Hall-HHS
Restoration Anthem-EO Hall-HHS

Filed Under: General, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Economy Tagged With: Printing, Edwin Oscar Hall, American Protestant Missionaries, Hawaii, Missionaries, EO Hall

September 19, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Elisha Loomis

“Conceiving it to be my duty to serve the Lord with all my might, and to engage in whatever business that would serve to promote the cause of the Redeemer, I last spring offered myself to the Board of Commissioners. as a printer to go the Sandwich Islands.”

“I proceeded to Brookfield, Mass. where I received the information that the Board had determined on my going in the mission this year. This I did not desire, as I had no female companion.”

“Disappointed in my expectation of finding one at Brookfield, Mass, I resolved to return home, make what preparations I could, and go out single, trusting that providence would, if it should be best, provide a companion.”

“Little did I think then, that God had prepared and help meet for me. A young lady of Utica, had for a considerable time been wishing to engage in a mission. By a remarkable Providence I became acquainted with her. … She had long been wishing to engage in a mission. Had frequently spoken of the Owhyean Mission.”

“I have now spent several days with her … Tomorrow I leave this village for Canandaigua expecting to return as soon as possible and be joined in marriage with Miss Maria Sartwell. (They wed September 27, 1819.) With her I shall proceed to Boston in time to embark with the mission.” Elisha Loomis to Samuel Worcester of the ABCFM, September 16, 1819)

He and Maria Loomis were in the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries, who left Boston on October 23, 1819 and arrived at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

Elisha Loomis was born December 11, 1799, son of Nathan and Dorcas Pratt Loomis at Middlesex Township, Ontario County, New York. He was a printer by trade.

“The first printing press at the Hawaiian Islands was imported by the American missionaries, and landed from the brig Thaddeus, at Honolulu, in April, 1820.”

“It was not unlike the first used by Benjamin Franklin, and was set up in a thatched house standing a few fathoms from the old mission frame house, but was not put in operation until the afternoon of January 7, 1822.” (Hunnewell)

“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)

“Gov. Cox (Ke‘eaumoku), who seems to take as friendly and lively an interest in our work as any of the windward chiefs, was present, and assisted with his own hands in composing a line or two and in working a few copies of the first lesson of Owhyhee syllables, having the composing stick put into his hands, and being shown when to take and how to place the types, and then to pull the press.” (Mission Journal)

Later, “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)

“The first lessons printed were eagerly received by those natives who had learned to read from manuscripts. For many years all the printing on the islands was done by the Hawaiians who had been taught by Mr. Loomis.”

“A few years later, when another printing press had been received, the first machine was taken to Oregon by a successor to Mr. Loomis, Mr. Edwin O. Hall, and was the first printing press seen west of the Rocky Mountains.” (Gulick)

On July 16, 1820, Elisha and Maria Loomis had a son, Levi Sartwell Loomis, the first white child born in the Hawaiian Islands.

Elisha and Maria would spend seven years in Hawai’i as missionaries. With his health failing, on January 6, 1827, they returned to New England but took up a new missionary post out in the Old Northwest – Mackinac Island – among the Ojibwe people. After two years in that missionary field they would return to New York. (Smola)

He recovered sufficiently to continue printing Hawaiian books in New York State, many for the American Bible Society and the American Tract Society. These books were sent to the Sandwich Islands with later missionary companies. (Judd)

Ka‘ahumanu wrote to Loomis, asking him to print and send her portions of the Bible, “Sincere love to you two Mr. & Mrs. Loomis – I have affection for you, my friends on account of your returning to America. To see all our friends there. Herein is my affection towards you. When you arrive in America, think of my love. Do not forget in the least.”

“This is what I desire, when you print; Do you print together the gospel of Matthew with John and Luke and Mark and Adam, and the Acts of the apostles, and the Epistles, and indeed the whole of the word of god. Let none be omitted.”

“There (with the scriptures) are my affections forever. Our thoughts centre in the love of God. I say unto you, give my love to all the chiefs in America. Together with all friends there: for the refreshing breeze now blows here even from the presence of God.” (Letter from Kaahumanu to the Loomis, June 3, 1827)

After Elisha’s death on August 27, 1836, Mrs. Loomis returned west to Ypsilanti, Michigan. She would spend the rest of her days there until she died in 1862. (Smola)

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.

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Mission Houses Printing Press Interpretive sign
Mission Houses Printing Press Interpretive sign
Image of first printing press
Image of first printing press
Ramage Press replica at Mission Houses
Ramage Press replica at Mission Houses
Elisha Loomis headstone
Elisha Loomis headstone
Levi Sartwell Loomis-HMH
Levi Sartwell Loomis-HMH
Levi Sartwell Loomis-headstone
Levi Sartwell Loomis-headstone

Filed Under: General, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings Tagged With: Missionaries, Elisha Loomis, Printing, American Protestant Missionaries, Levi Sartwell Loomis, Hawaii

May 24, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hale Pa‘i

“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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Mission Houses Hale Pai Sign
Mission Houses Hale Pai Sign
Ramage Press replica at Mission Houses
Ramage Press replica at Mission Houses
ENTRANCE, INSIDE PORCH - Mission Printing Office-(LOC)
ENTRANCE, INSIDE PORCH – Mission Printing Office-(LOC)
GENERAL VIEW, NORTH (FRONT) ELEVATION FROM NORTHEAST - Mission Printing Office-(LOC)
GENERAL VIEW, NORTH (FRONT) ELEVATION FROM NORTHEAST – Mission Printing Office-(LOC)
INTERIOR, LOOKING TO REAR - Mission Printing Office-(LOC)
INTERIOR, LOOKING TO REAR – Mission Printing Office-(LOC)
Lahainaluna Hale Pa'i (Printing Shop)-LOC-058643pv
Lahainaluna Hale Pa’i (Printing Shop)-LOC-058643pv
Lahainaluna Hale Pa'i (Printing Shop)-LOC-058642pv
Lahainaluna Hale Pa’i (Printing Shop)-LOC-058642pv
Lahainaluna Hale Pa'i (Printing Shop)-LOC-058644pv
Lahainaluna Hale Pa’i (Printing Shop)-LOC-058644pv

Filed Under: Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, General, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance Tagged With: Hawaii, Missionaries, Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, Lahainaluna, Hale Pai, Printing

January 7, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Palapala

“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.” (Barber, 1833)

The members of the Sandwich Islands Mission sent from Boston by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) had in their collective mind it was absolutely essential to have printed material available as soon as possible to reinforce their efforts in disseminating the gospel across the Islands.

The missionaries began their printing activities even before they had settled on a standard alphabet and spelling for the previously unwritten Hawaiian language.

So they set to work almost immediately and in only two years completed the complicated task of developing a preliminary written language. However, the final decisions in choice between ‘t’ and ‘k,’ ‘b’ and ‘p,’ ‘r’ and ‘l,’ ‘v’ and ‘w’ were made later.

Only after prolonged discussion among the members of the group and their native informants. Agreement was reached in 1826, when the Hawaiian alphabet was established with twelve letters: a, e, i, o, u, h, k, l, m, n, p and w.

“The first printing press at the Hawaiian Islands was imported by the American missionaries, and landed from the brig Thaddeus, at Honolulu …. It was not unlike the first used by Benjamin Franklin, and was set up in a thatched house standing a few fathoms from the old mission frame house”. (Hunnewell; Ballou)

On Monday, January 7, 1822, an event took place that would have enormous importance for the Islands. Standing beside a printing press in a grass-roofed hut, and observed by an American printer, shipmasters, missionaries, and traders, Chief Ke‘eaumoku put his hand on the press lever, exerted pressure, and printed wet black syllables in Hawaiian and English. (HHS)

At this inauguration there were present his Excellency Governor (Ke‘eaumoku (Gov. Cox,)) a chief of the first rank, with his retinue; some other chiefs and natives; Rev. Hiram Bingham, missionary; Mr. Loomis, printer, (who had just completed setting it up); James Hunnewell; Captain William Henry and Captain Masters (Americans.) (Ballou)

These were the first printed pages created in Hawai‘i for an eight-page speller to be used in Hawaiian schools sponsored by the Protestant Mission. (None of which now survive.)

“We are happy to announce to you that, on the first Monday of January (1822), we commenced printing, and, with great satisfaction, have put the first eight pages of the Owhyhee spellingbook into the hands of our pupils”.

Native Hawaiians immediately perceived the importance of “palapala” – document, to write or send a message. “Makai” – “good” – exclaimed Chief Ke‘eaumoku, to thus begin the torrent of print communications that we have today. (HHS)

Thereafter, printing on the first press, a second-hand Ramage, went on continuously for six years, until in 1828 an additional press was sent from Boston. The original press was acquired by the missionary school at Lahainaluna on Maui in 1834.

“… 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. 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-million 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, 1833)

In the meantime, a Wells-model press arrived at Lahainaluna in 1832 and it carried the major load of the printing there. Elisha Loomis, a member of the Pioneer Company, was the first printer of Hawaiian material. With the help of native apprentices, he worked at his trade in Honolulu until 1827, when, health failing, he returned to America.

The presses of the Sandwich Islands Mission in Honolulu and Lahainaluna were the major printers of books in Hawaiian in the Islands until 1858, when the work of printing for the Mission was handed over on a business basis to Henry M. Whitney, a missionary son.

He continued to handle the Hawaiian language books for the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, which had superseded the Sandwich Islands Mission in 1854.

The Bible was translated from the original Greek and Hebrew by the combined efforts of Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston of the Pioneer Company, Artemas Bishop and James Ely of the Second Company, William Richards, Lorrin Andrews, Jonathan Green, and Ephraim Clark of the Third Company, and Sheldon Dibble of the Fourth Company.

Although the work was begun in 1822, the first segment of the Bible, the Gospel of Luke, did not come off the press until 1827. The rest of the New Testament was completed by 1832 and the Old Testament in 1839 (although the date given on the title page is 1838).

The mission press printed 10,000-copies of Ka Palapala Hemolele (The Holy Scriptures). It was 2,331-pages long printed front and back.

The 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. (Mission Houses) (Lots of information here is from Mission Houses, Barber and Judd.)

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Ramage Press replica at Mission Houses
Ramage Press replica at Mission Houses
Honolulu-Mission-Houses-Press-Interior
Honolulu-Mission-Houses-Press-Interior
Honolulu-Mission-Houses-Press-Sign
Honolulu-Mission-Houses-Press-Sign
NORTH ELEVATION - Mission Printing Office-(LOC)
NORTH ELEVATION – Mission Printing Office-(LOC)
Lahainaluna_seminary_workshop,_mechanical_printing_press_and_movable_type_in_type_case_in_background,_ca._1895
Lahainaluna_seminary_workshop,_mechanical_printing_press_and_movable_type_in_type_case_in_background,_ca._1895
Hale_Pai
Hale_Pai
Maui-Lahaina-Halepai-entrance
Maui-Lahaina-Halepai-entrance
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Hale_Pai
Hale_Pai
Hale_Pai

Filed Under: General, Ali'i / Chiefs / Governance, Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings, Schools Tagged With: Hawaii, American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, Missionaries, Printing

Images of Old Hawaiʻi

People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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