Constitution of the Original Hawaiian Church - Rare Book Insider
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Constitution of the Original Hawaiian Church

Mission Press, Honolulu: 1830
Octavo, bifolium [4 pp.]. . Spine almost fully split, paper browned, nicks to edges, minor loss to lower outer corner; a very good copy. The first printing of the Hawaiian church's founding constitution, the text of which "was drawn up in Boston just prior to the departure of the first American Protestant missionaries to Hawaii. Although issued without an imprint or colophon it can be dated to 1830. Printed on 1821 watermarked paper. Signed in type by Hiram Bingham and 54 missionaries and Hawaiians. The Third Company arrived at Honolulu on the ship Parthian, 30 March 1828. Signatures of members of the Fourth Company, who arrived at Honolulu on the ship New England, 28 December 1830 are not included here, but were added to the manuscript original in the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society Collection, where the original manuscript is still held. This work was printed simultaneously with a Hawaiian-language version of the text translated by the Protestant missionary Hiram Bingham, which was distributed among the pre-existing Hawaiian churches. This appears to be the first Constitution of any sort printed in Hawaii. Forbes 742.
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