(Young, John)

The Book of Common Prayer, and Adminstration of the Sacraments, and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the Use of the United Church of England and Ireland: together with The Psalter or Psalms of David. Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press by Samuel Collingwood, 1823



8vo (8 3/8 x 5 1/4 in.; 213 x 134 mm). Some scattered foxing. Contemporary straight-grain brown morocco, front cover gilt with supralibros of John Young, green-coated endpapers, gilt edges, fore-edge painting of Buckingham palace; hinges repaired, extremities rubbed. Brown morocco folding-case gilt.

A relic of Kamehameha II's tragic visit to London in 1824, carried back to Hawaii by John Young's son, Kanehoa. Kanehoa accompied the royal party to London as translator and travelling secretary. Like the travelling case in the preceding lot, this important artifact from Young's life, with further royal provenance, had been in the collection of V. S. K. Houston, the representative to the United States Congress from the Territory of Hawaii. In October 1956, Houston presented this travelling case to Robert E. Van Dyke of Pasadena. A copy of Houston's letter of transmittal accompanies the case:

"When Bruce Cartwright and I were the executors of the estates of Uncle Edgar and Aunt Kalani Henriques, as you know, I purchased many historical items connected with Queen Emma. I wish now to turn over to you [one] of these pieces … The bible which was given to John Young in 1825 by Kanehoa. Fanny Young Naea, Queen Emma's mother. said that her father highly valued the volume because he was able to read it so easily with its large type. It is a rare and valuable book as it has a foredge painting on its border. This is the way Buckingham Palace looked when it was seen by Kamehameha II in 1824."