More on my Kumulipo find

On Friday, I wrote about finding a first edition of the published Kumulipo.  If you haven’t seen the photos yet, you really should check out my post.

In my gleeful haste to share those photos with everyone, I forgot to provide some context, so here it is, courtesy of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs publication Ali`i Diplomatic Missions and Other Business Travel to Washington, D.C. Phase 2:

The Queen, well known to many for her writings and her musical compositions, did a great deal of literary work while she was in Washington, D.C. She notes in her memoirs that she finished her translation of the Kumulipo, begun while she was still imprisoned, while residing in Washington, D.C. at this time. Lili`uokalani also compiled a number of her songs, chants and other writings into bound volumes, one set of which was placed “in the new Congressional Library.” [pages 23-24]

With that out of the way, I also have to say, “Boy was I wrong!“  About what?  Well, I ended that post with, “While I doubt Her Majesty wrote that inscription herself, this was still a great find to me!“  Shortly after publishing that post, one of my co-workers commented, “I can just about assure you that IS the Queen’s own handwriting. I’ve seen a couple of things that she personally inscribed and I’d say you were looking at ink that might not have felt fresh air since the day she signed that page.“  And then a little later, another co-worker added more confirmation, “I was about to say, yes, that does look like Lili’uokalani’s own handwriting. I, too, have seen her handwriting.”

Amazing!  Could it be true that I got to touch something that Her Majesty personally wrote? The second co-worker directed me to http://www.footnote.com/image/17207740/ to see her handwriting for myself.  And the first co-worker referred me to page 53 from the aforementioned book.  Here’s what that sample looks like:

So I’m now convinced that Her Majesty did personally inscribe that copy of the Kumulipo that I got to handle. While trying not to sound corny…Cool!

Mahalo!

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Tagged as: Capsun, exbor, Hawaii, hawaiian affairs, kumulipo, liliuokalani