19th-Century Missionary Networks: Fiji and China - Commonplace Book with Autograph of James Calvert in Fijian and a Chinese Christian Manuscript

19th-Century Missionary Networks: Commonplace Book with Autograph of James Calvert in Fijian and a Chinese Christian Manuscript

Commonplace book in Quarto (c. 24 × 19 cm) in original blind-stamped cloth. Covers detached and spine with small loss. c. 1840–1880 containing c50 pages of original manuscripts, drawings, watercolours, and ephemera.

Including of particular interest:

1) An autograph inscription in Fijian by James Calvert (1813–1892), one of the most significant early Wesleyan missionaries to Fiji. Calvert arrived in Fiji in 1838 and played a central role in the translation of the Bible into Fijian and the establishment of the first Wesleyan mission presses at Lakemba and Viwa.

The autograph reads:

“Me udolu na yamada, me vakavinavinaka vua na Kalou loloma, kei na noda i vakabula”

James Calvert, Manchester, August 8, 1859

(Translation: “O that we had a thousand tongues, to give thanks to the loving God and our Saviour.”)

2) A fascinating 19th Century Chinese missionary calligraphic text, signed “Tyeng Howqua”, a name suggestive of a Cantonese merchant linked to Christian missionary circles.

The Chinese text is a meditation on the Gospel of John, chapter iii, verse 16, rather than a direct translation of the Gospel text. The reflection on the well known Biblical passage suggests that this verse is a personal act of devotion by a 19th Century Chinese Christian.

"For God so loved the World, That he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" John 3:16

The signature "Howqua" was widely associated with Cantonese merchant status in the 19th Century. The writer was therefore likely a Chinese Christian,  connected to missionary networks through trade and personal contact

3) Other album contents include a well executed pencil drawing of a castle on the Gulf of Aqaba with local figures, Lumley family Baptisms, and a letter and photograph of the hugely popular (but now very unfashionable) Victorian moraliser Martin Farquhar Tupper

Provenance - Likely a member of the Lumley family of East Kirkby (Lincolnshire)