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Third thousand. 12mo. viii, 298, 6 pp. Color frontispiece by G. Baxter (showing painting of the six refuges waiting on the beach at Tamatave, where they historically embarked), title vignette ("The Vignette, in mournful contrast with the soft and inviting scenery of the Frontispiece, exhibits the harsh and revolting circumstances and manner of the martyrdom of Rasalama. She is kneeling, and just about to receive the first spear - others are being raised ready to repeat the blow. . . "), publisher's ads. Modern antique-style gilt-stamped half calf over marbled boards, four raised bands and two gilt-stamped black leather spine labels, new endpapers; labels rubbed. Near fine. First edition, third thousand. David Jones (1796 -1841) was a pioneering Welsh Christian missionary to Madagascar. A gifted linguist, he was noted for establishing the orthography of the Malagasy language and for his translation of the Bible into Malagasy, a work that he undertook with fellow missionary David Griffiths. The Malagasy Bible of 1835 was among the first Bibles to be printed in an African language. King Radama I (1810â "1828), recognized by the British government as King of Madagascar, conducted a treaty in 1817 with the British governor of Mauritius to abolish the lucrative slave trade in return for British military and financial assistance. Artisan missionary envoys from the London Missionary Society began arriving in 1818. They established schools, transcribed the Malagasy language using the Roman alphabet, translated the Bible, and introduced a variety of new technologies to the island. Radama I had been a friend of the Christian missionaries. However, after his death in 1828, a period of confusion followed, and the mission's work was for a time interrupted. Although the new Queen of Madagascar, Ranavalona I, was sometimes favorable to the work, her ministers were opposed to it, and the missionaries were ordered to leave. But this order was cancelled, and from 1832 to 1835 the mission was continued, though not easily. Nevertheless, the Malagasy Bible of 1835 was among the first Bibles to be printed in an African language. At the same time as the publication of the Malagasy bible, 1835, a fierce anti-Christian persecution arose, and the missionaries decided to leave. Griffiths preached his last sermon in the chapel on 22 February, and left the island in September 1835, reaching Britain in February 1836. At the end of two years he received an intimation from Ranavalona that he might return as a merchant but not as a missionary. He did so in May 1838. Persecution still raged throughout the island, and Griffiths was [as were others] charged with having helped some Malagasy Christians to leave the country and was sentenced to death, a sentence afterwards commuted to payment of a fine. Interestingly the Queen sentenced Christians to death or "perpetual slavery" p. 183. Griffiths' Persecuted Christians of Madagascar was published in London in 1841, a year after this book was published.â "Paraphrased from Wikip. Honorably, the narrative was for a good cause: "The profits of the work devoted to the relief of the persecuted natives of Madagascar. Third Thousand." - Title page.
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