Autograph and commonplace album, with dozens of inscriptions by missionaries, 1882-1908, including Rev. Joseph Jackson Fuller of Jamaica and the Cameroons

Autograph & commonplace album, with dozens of inscriptions by missionaries, 1882-1908, including Rev. Joseph Jackson Fuller of Jamaica and the Cameroons
Manuscript commonplace book, with dates ranging from 1882-1908. From the estate of the Larkworthy family. Numerous inscriptions, poems, and drawings, including one watercolor.

Of particular interest are the first dozen pages of the album, which contain dozens of inscriptions by missionaries, often with a biblical quote, translated into the language of the region they had served in. The highlight is an inscription by the missionary to the Cameroons, Joseph Jackson Fuller (1825-1908). Born into slavery in Spanish Town, Jamaica, he became one of the first enslaved people to be manumitted in Jamaica under the apprenticeship act. In 1843 he traveled from Jamaica to the Cameroons, where he spent most of his life before retiring to England. During the last decades of his life he became a noted speaker on missionary efforts in Africa. The inscription from Fuller includes a translation from Duala, and reads:

Joseph Jackson Fuller
Late of the Cameroons West Africa
Loba lo e ndolo
God is love
Sept. 23rd 1897

There are over 20 other similar inscriptions by other missionaries with translated or bilingual quotes, with many from different parts of the Congo, India, and China. One additional highlight is an inscription by missionary and linguist James Legge from 1895, who has added an inscription in Chinese. There is also the signature of John Gibson Paton, who worked in the South Pacific and mostly famously in the New Hebrides.

Aside from the missionary interest, there are some attractive pen and ink drawings, a pair of pencil sketches, a mounted full page photograph, and a watercolor by Sidney Saville Smith.