Details
REVEREND JOHN WILLIAMS (1796-1839)
A Bread-Fruit of the Paea species with its leaf and blossom, drawn from a specimen brought to England by the Revd Jn Williams, missionary from the South Seas Islands
hand-coloured lithograph, published by John Snow, London, n.d. [watermark 1835], some spotting and browning, a few very short tears to edges. Loose in later portfolio.
paper: 24¼ x 19¼in. (61.5 x 49cm.)
The missionary John Williams left England in 1816 for Sydney. The London Missionary Society had decided to concentrate its efforts on the Pacific islands, and from Sydney Williams moved on the following year to the Society Islands, where he quickly met with success. He himself mastered, among others, the languages of Tahiti and Raratonga, introduced with competence and understanding European systems of administration and encouraged the cultivation of tobacco and sugar-cane. He returned to England in 1834 and amongst the items he brought back was the bread-fruit illustrated here. Williams wrote up his travels in A narrative of missionary enterprises in the South Sea Islands (London: John Snow, 1837) and The missionary's farewell; valedictory services of the Rev. John Williams, previous to his departure for the South Seas (London: John Snow, 1838). Williams was murdered by cannibals on 20th November 1839.
A Bread-Fruit of the Paea species with its leaf and blossom, drawn from a specimen brought to England by the Revd Jn Williams, missionary from the South Seas Islands
hand-coloured lithograph, published by John Snow, London, n.d. [watermark 1835], some spotting and browning, a few very short tears to edges. Loose in later portfolio.
paper: 24¼ x 19¼in. (61.5 x 49cm.)
The missionary John Williams left England in 1816 for Sydney. The London Missionary Society had decided to concentrate its efforts on the Pacific islands, and from Sydney Williams moved on the following year to the Society Islands, where he quickly met with success. He himself mastered, among others, the languages of Tahiti and Raratonga, introduced with competence and understanding European systems of administration and encouraged the cultivation of tobacco and sugar-cane. He returned to England in 1834 and amongst the items he brought back was the bread-fruit illustrated here. Williams wrote up his travels in A narrative of missionary enterprises in the South Sea Islands (London: John Snow, 1837) and The missionary's farewell; valedictory services of the Rev. John Williams, previous to his departure for the South Seas (London: John Snow, 1838). Williams was murdered by cannibals on 20th November 1839.