Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

An open letter to the reverend doctor hyde of honolulu from robert louis stevenson. four hundred and fifty copies of this book (eighth edition) have been printed on van gelder hand-made paper...at the press of george d. loring, portland, maine.

Item Description

12mo. 6 x 3.5 inches. [xiv] + 30 + [1] pp. + [1] pp. colophon. Title page in red and black. In cream card wrappers with black titles with red initial. Deckled edges. Extremities worn and darkened, with loss of most of spine title; otherwise a very good copy. Illustrated by frontispiece protected by tissue guard. Decorated by title page and head and tailpiece vignettes and initials in red. US private press edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's open letter, Father Damien, first published in Sydney, 1890. Father Damien de Veuster (1840-89) was a Belgian missionary priest sent to Hawaii in 1873. He ministered to the needs of the leper colony of Molokai, eventually succumbing to the disease himself. Stevenson wrote his letter after a subsequent attack on Damien's character and work by the Rev. Charles McEwen Hyde, Presbyterian Minister of Honolulu. Father Damien was canonised in 2009 as Saint Damien of Molokai.