FIRST LEAFLET PRINTED, 1822
THE ALPHABET.
| VOWELS. | SOUND. | |
| Names. | Ex. in Eng. | Ex. in Hawaii. |
| A a — â | as in father, | la—sun. |
| E e — a | — tete, | hemo—cast off. |
| I i — e | — marine, | marie—quiet. |
| O o — o | — over, | one—sweet. |
| U u — oo | — rule, | nui—large. |
| CONSONANTS. | Names. | CONSONANTS. | Names. |
| B b | be | N n | nu |
| D d | de | P p | pi |
| H h | he | R r | ro |
| K k | ke | T t | ti |
| L l | la | V v | vi |
| M m | mu | W w | we |
| The following are used in spelling foreign words: | |||||||
| F f | fe | G g | ge | S s | se | Y y | yi |
As soon as the missionaries were sure of the orthography and pronunciation of a number of words they prepared a primer or spelling book to be [[185]]printed for the schools they were carrying on. Mr. Bingham says: “On the 7th of January, 1822, we commenced printing the language in order to give them letters, libraries and the living oracles in their own tongue. A considerable number was present, and among those particularly interested was Ke-au-moku (Gov. Cox) who after a little instruction by Mr. Loomis applied the strength of his athletic arm to the lever of a Ramage press, pleased thus to assist in working off a few impressions of the first lessons.”
Although these impressions were merely proof sheets, probably, of the first half of the spelling book, yet the large number printed and put in use, nearly 100 in all, would make this the first item printed.
This was the first printing done in the Hawaiian islands and along the North Pacific coast west of the Rocky Mountains. These first sheets created a new interest among the chiefs. King Liho-liho (Ka-meha-meha II) visited the press, saw a sheet of clean white paper laid over the type, then “pulled the lever around and was surprised to see the paper instantly covered with words in his own language.”
While the chiefs were awakened by these proof impressions to intellectual desires never before experienced, the work was being pushed of finishing the second “signature” and the complete book of sixteen pages was printed in an edition of 500 copies. Gov. Adams (Kuakini) secured one of the [[186]]first copies of these lessons “and was quickly master of them.”