Chinese Supplement to The Friend [in] The Friend. A Monthly Journal, Devoted to Temperance, Seamen, Marine, and General Intelligence. Vol. 39: New Series, Vol. 31. 1882

Full year, complete with 4 issues of the Chinese Supplement. Sixteen issues, unbound, with separate 4 page cover page and index. First edition. Chipping to edges and corners of cover page and index, as well as to first and last issues in series, chipping and some separation to central folds of individual issues, with June and December issues separated into individual sheets.

After a few brief articles relating to Chinese immigration to Hawaii, in 1882 The Friend published a four-part supplement, totaling thirty two pages, relating to China and Chinese life in Hawaii, offering one of the earliest printed treatments of the Chinese in Hawaii, and the earliest - by some decades - of any length on the topic. These four issues provide a sympathetic treatment of Chinese immigrants, and include work with Chinese Christians such Samuel Aheong and Sit Moon (a friend of Sun Yat-sen, who was in Hawaii at the time). The longest narrative is "Tours Among the Chinese", written by Frank Damon, as he was accompanied by Ho Ah Pui through the settlements of Chinese immigrants on different islands. Later volumes of The Friend are particularly uncommon, with this significant and scarce milestone in Chinese Americana especially so.