NARRATIVE OF MISSIONARY ENTERPRISES IN THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS; WITH REMARKS UPON THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE ISLANDS, ORIGIN, LANGUAGES, TRADITIONS AND USAGES OF THE INHABITANTS.

London: For the author by J. Snow, 1837. First Edition. With a coloured frontispiece printed in oils by George Baxter, vignette titlepage, 24 wood-engravings, and folding map. 8vo, bound in modern dark green silk cloth, the spine with a morocco label lettered and trimmed in gilt. A well preserved and clean copy, occasional minor toning and evidence of use, less than is typical, spotting to the frontis as is common. THE DEFINITIVE ACCOUNT OF JOHN WILLIAMS’ MISSIONARY WORK IN THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS. This work is the main source for the life and work of Williams, who was perhaps the most successful missionary of his day. He was sent to the Society Islands in 1816, traveled about the islands where he made frequent and close contact with the native peoples. He made his headquarters at Raiatea, but also visited the Cook Islands and discovered Rarotonga, where he sojourned for a considerable time. He voyaged to Samoa, Tonga and the neighboring islands. He returned to England in 1834 for a four-year period where he commissioned a printing of the New Testament and then translated it into Rarotongan. He returned to the Pacific in 1838 and sailed to the Hebrides, but while visiting the island of Erromanga he was murdered by cannibals on November 30, 1839.
‘Very popular in its day for its insights into missionary and native life, Williams’ narrative went into many editions, and these insights into missionary and native life are very important to a complete understanding of Pacific history’ (Hill p. 327). The books is additionally important for its colour printing process for which Baxter received a Royal Patent. The colour frontispiece is one of the earliest prints created with this new process.