Bible, in Tahitian
Te Biblia moa ra ... E ua faa au maite hia i na parau tumu ra, e ua hope hoi i te faa titiaifaro hia. London: William Watts for The British and Foreign Bible Society, 1847
Presentation copy to John MacGillivray, before his departure to the South Pacific as naturalist on board HMS Herald. This is the first edition of the second Tahitian Bible. The first complete translation – in fact the first in any Polynesian language – was undertaken by Henry Nott and published by the BFBS in 1838. This edition was revised by William Howe and Thomas Joseph.

John MacGillivray (1821-1867) served as naturalist on three important Royal Navy expeditions to the Far East, Australia and the South Pacific: HMS Fly (1842-1846; where his appointment was paid for by the Earl of Derby and specimens sent to Knowsley), HMS Rattlesnake (1846-1850) and HMS Herald (1852-1856). In addition to his contributions to natural history through descriptions of the new flora and fauna he discovered, MacGillivray also had a keen interest in native peoples and collected their vocabularies. Presumably it was this interest that led to his being presented with the current work by the London Missionary Society on 8 June 1852. Unfortunately the voyage of the Herald was not without its difficulties: MacGillivray suffered from periods of alcoholism and financial penury, and was dismissed from the expedition at Sydney in early 1855. He remained in Australia subsisting on a meagre living as a naturalist and writer, making occasional expeditions to the New Hebrides and Torres Strait area, before dying aged 46 in Sydney in 1867.

Octavo (210 x 135mm). Pp. [iv], 983 (small marginal hole in 2C5 and small marginal chip and tear to 2Z4 both affecting a few letters, tape repair to large tear in blank postliminary leaf, occasional faint marginal spotting). Contemporary blind-stamped calf by Watkins (rebacked preserving original spine, corners repaired, rear inner cracking).

London Missionary Society (stamp on front free endpaper, manuscript calligraphic presentation inscription on verso of front free endpaper to:) –
John MacGillivray (1821-1867, natural history collector) –
Lt Cdr Andrew David (bookplate)

Darlow and Moule 9083
Robert Ralph. 'John MacGillivray - his life and work' in Archives of Natural History (1993) 20 (2): pp.185-195

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