Thesaurus of Karen knowledge comprising traditions, legends or fabels, poetry, customs, superstitions, demonology, theraputics, etc., alphabetically arranged, and forming a complete native Karen dictionary with definitions and examples illustrating the usages of every word. Written by Sau Kau-Too, and compiled by J[onathan] Wade

Wade, Jonathan, & Sau Kau-Too

Published by Karen Mission Press, C[ephas] Bennett, Tavoy, 1847

About this Item

First and only edition, 4 volumes, 8vo, volume 1 with an English title-p. and a 2-p. English preface by Wade, the others with a title-p. in English; the text throughout is in Karen; full original calf in varying hues, each with gilt-stamped titles and vol. designation numbers on the spines, the top panel of the fourth volume chipped away, a number of signatures sprung in vol. III, all vols. somewhat shaken, worn and occasionally stained. Jonathan Wade was an American missionary born in 1798. American missionaries first arrived among the Karen tribes in 1828. It was apparently impracticable for them to set up a printing-press in the wild country of the Shan states, but they did so several hundred miles farther south, at Tavoy, in the Tenasserim province. The first book of the press appears to be Wade's own Karen dictionary (Tavoy ca. 1842-44). In 1846 the Rev. Cephas Bennett published there An Anglo-Karen Vocabulary. But he was not the first pioneer to set the Karen language down on paper, for we are told that Karen was "never written till Dr. Wade, an American missionary, reduced it to writing using the Burmese consonants. The Karens thus have no written literature" (The Spread of Printing, Eastern Hemisphere, p. 87). This set, then, represents the first printed appearance of the body of Karen literature. A compelling set of a rare work. Bookseller Inventory # 9725

Bibliographic Details

Title: Thesaurus of Karen knowledge comprising ...

Publisher: Karen Mission Press, C[ephas] Bennett, Tavoy

Publication Date: 1847

Binding: Hardcover