{"id":422,"date":"2017-05-15T01:34:04","date_gmt":"2017-05-15T08:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ftl.dlwa.com\/?p=422"},"modified":"2025-07-01T09:32:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T16:32:58","slug":"the-rabaul-and-vunapope-mission-press-in-new-britian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ftl.dlwa.com\/?p=422","title":{"rendered":"The Rabaul and Vunapope Mission Press in New Britian"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nYou never know what you will find in a box of old books. Most of the items were ready to go to Goodwill on the off chance that the old books would find a good home rather than be shredded. Picking up one small volume with a cloth cover that was almost detached I looked at the title. I found it strange that while it looked like I could read it, it was just not right.<\/p>\n

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\nA find from the bottom of the box<\/center><\/p>\n

Prompted by the unexpected, I dove further into the mass of discarded, damp books, many lacked their covers, their signatures falling apart. Soon at the bottom of another box I came up with a second volume.<\/p>\n

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\nThe second nugget<\/center><\/p>\n

On looking closer at the title pages, I was surprised to find that these small books, lost amongst the rest, had an interesting story. They were printed at a small mission press on the island of New Britain in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s.<\/p>\n

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The mission press survived different colonial occupations and two world wars. How these two small volumes made it to eastern Washington is a mystery but they open a window to another place and time.<\/p>\n

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\nRead more about the Mission.<\/a><\/center>
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\n<\/a>Read more about the press.<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

Worldcat: Neither book is listed in the Worldcat catalog.<\/p>\n