Hawaiian Engravings

Hawaiiana at the American Antiquarian Society includes an assortment of more than thirty rare engravings produced by students at the Lahainaluna Seminary on the island of Maui. An intaglio press was introduced at this institution about 1834 and was used to teach students the skills of copperplate engraving and printing. The students produced maps, landscape views, portraits, and depictions of native floral.

Many other maps engraved in Hawaii at Lahainaluna are included in the book He Mau palapala aina, a me na niele e pili ana, a geography text published in Lahainaluna in 1840 which includes maps of different parts of the world.

For more information, see David W. Forbes. Engraved at Lahainaluna : a history of printmaking by Hawaiians at the Lahainaluna Seminary, 1834 to 1844, with a descriptive catalogue of all known views, maps, and portraits. (Honolulu, Hawaii, 2012).

Primary Sources Digital Library