This is the first edition of the New Testament, or Ke Kauoha Hou, in the Hawaiian language. American missionaries first arrived in what was then known as the Sandwich Islands in 1820. Working closely with indigenous Hawaiians and supported in part by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the American Bible Society, they quickly began work translating the Bible. After years of collaboration, they completed the entire New Testament in 1835, followed by the Old Testament in 1838. This copy remains in its original binding and was owned by Jacob Collamer, US senator from Vermont, who inscribed the title page.