Mission Printers

Good Work by Lutherans in New Guinea

THERE was an interesting incident in the office of the “Pacific Islands Monthly,” the other day. Mr. F. R. Isom, the printer in charge of the Melanesian Mission Press, Guadalcanal, in the Solo mon Islands, was sitting talking to the editor, when a messenger delivered a par cel of books.

They were books kindly sent to us by Rev. St. Lehner, of Finschhafen (Super intendent of the Lutheran Mission in New Guinea), as examples of the work done at the Lutheran Mission’s printery and bookbindery—which were established in 1916, and are operated by natives under white supervision. Little did Mr. Lehner guess that when the editor examined those books, he would have for his assist ance the friendly, but jealous, eye of an other Pacific Islands Mission printer.

The books would be a credit to any city printery. Mr. Isom, whose own work is of notable quality, examined both the printing and binding with much curiosity, and declared they could not be improved upon. He sent his congratulations to his fellow craftsmen in Finschhafen.

In its 18 years of life, the Finschhafen printery has produced 70,000 large and small bound books, as well as an enor mous amount of miscellaneous matter. It prints two monthly journals—one in the Kate and the other in the Jabem lan guage. The printery works in no less than 12 different languages.

One interesting book is a school primer, in which every lesson is illustrated by a fine process block. The printing of those blocks, on ordinary super-calender, is re markably well done.