HISTORY OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS: Embracing Their Antiquities, Mythology, Legends, Discovery By Europeans in the Sixteenth Century, Re-Discovery By Cook, with Their Civil, Religious and Political History, From the Earliest Traditional Period to the Present Day
(Honolulu: Charles Edwin Hitchcock, 1847).
FIRST EDITION OF THE VERY SCARCE FIRST HAWAIIAN EDITION OF ONE OF ONLY A SCANT FEW ANTIQUARIAN HISTORIES OF HAWAII NOT WRITTEN BY MISSIONARIES. The author, James Jackson Jarves, was founder and editor of Hawaii's first newspaper, 'The Polynesian' and was a member of the American Oriental Society. This edition is considerably scarcer then the London and Boston counterparts. It contains a great deal of information of social, economic and political value and the author states the edition to be entirely rewritten with nearly twice the material of the two earlier editions. Item #27242
The scarce first edition printed in Hawaii, the first Honolulu edition and third edition overall. Much rarer then the earlier Boston and London editions. Text double column, with woodcut illustrations within, one of which is full-page. 8vo, contemporary marbled boards backed in brown leather, gilt ruled on the spine. 240 pp. A bright, clean and handsome copy, the text uncommonly fresh with only a few very occasion spots, two gatherings a bit toned but the rest surprisingly bright, the binding solid with only very light rubbing, a small piece neatly excised from the blank front free-fly.