[Extracts from the diary of the missionary.]

£9,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

“Anxious to give you information of our state. I have made the following extracts from my journal … I am happy to inform you that all is well amongst us or at least as well as can be expected …” An exceedingly rare and substantial group of manuscripts written by the missionary John Hobbs (1800-1883) to the Wesleyan Missionary Society, having established a station at Hokianga in 1827. Hobbs interacted with Maori rangatira Eruera Maihi Patuone, who was one of the last surviving people to have met James Cook, along with Tamati Waka Nene and Makoare Te Taonui, both signers of the 1835 Declaration of Independence and the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, as well as numerous other missionaries and Maori residents during the early days of British settlement of New Zealand. Unusually for a missionary of such significance, he did not publish an account of his time in the Pacific. These extracts from his diary, hand-copied by Hobbs and seemingly otherwise unpublished, connect us to the earliest days of contact between Europeans and the Maori. The extracts numbered are 23, 25, 26, 27, 28. With a short prefatory note dated January 12, 1828, the journal ranges from October 20, 1827, through December of that year, with journal extract 24 lacking (removed and sold separately by an auctioneer), which would cover November 9th to 14th. Editorial marks interspersed throughout text, likely demarcating passages that were not suitable for sharing or publication. The first extract, dated 20 October, narrate

• Year: 1828

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