An extraordinarily important Hawaiian imprint, signifying the transition from an autocratic kingdom to a constitutional monarchy. The first fourteen pages contain the text of the constitution, signed in print by the King 8 October 1840, and includes the "Hawaiian Bill of Rights" in the Preamble. The prerogatives of the King and the duties of the premier are delineated, as are the roles of the four governors of the islands, the House of Nobles, and the lower body of the legislature. These laws were printed at the Mission Press for the Hawaiian government, in a run of 5,000 copies.
"The first constitution and laws of the Hawaiian Islands, and one of the great achievements of the reign of Kamehameha III" [Forbes].
A similar very early impression last offered at auction at Sotheby's, 2021, where an inferior example to the present sold for $23,940.00 [with commissions]. Prior to that, in 2014 an 1842 later imprint sold at Doyle for $17,500, and in 2009 another 1842 later imprint for just over $17,000 at Bonham's.
This example seemingly earlier even than the Sotheby's example, which fails to note an errata page, only present in the earliest examples.
[Hawaii, Sandwich Islands, Constitution] Ke Kumu Kanawai, a me na Kanawai o ko Hawaii Pae Aina. Ua Kauia i ke kau in Kamehameha III. Honolulu, Oahu. [Mission Press]. 1841. First Edition. 155pp + errata.
A superb example, certainly in a better state of preservation than the most recent auction example [Sotheby's, noted above]. That example retained none of the original binding, was similar in terms of foxing, and also had staining to the text, which the present example does not. Our example retains the original boards with their beautifully hand-textured Hawaiian patterning; early overspine in something akin to ship sail cloth, probably late 19th century. Both interior ffeps and hinges strengthened with period paper overlay. The ffep nearly detached.
There is the tiniest worm trace at the inner margin near the top that expands slightly for the first few leaves of text. As usual, the rfeps are badly foxed and the paper unevenly clean and foxed throughout, with variants to the type across signatures, as the earliest examples carry.
p.49 bears the early in signature in the lower margin, H. Myhre. This likely prominent Hawaiian Halvor Myhre, contributor to the Hawaiian Gazette in the late 19th century, etc.
