THE FRIEND. A SEMI-MONTHLY JOURNAL, DEVOTED TO TEMPERANCE, MARINE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE containing within the only issue published of THE FOLIO, The First Newspaper For Women's Rights

Honolulu, Oahu, HI: Polynesian Press; New Era and Argus Office, 1855-1856. First Edition. Hardcover. Light and occasional browning and foxing. Near Fine and quite scarce. New Series Volume IV, Numbers I - 12 and Volume V, Numbers 1 - 10; Old Series, Volumes XII and XIII. Quarto (9-1/8" x 11-5/8") bound in recent calf-backed marbled boards; 92, 4, 80 pages. Despite the sub-title, the journal was issued monthly. It includes much material of historical interest including the funeral of Kamehameha III and inauguration of Kamehameha IV, the annexation of the Sandwich Islands, the Chinese in the Sandwich Islands, and numerous pieces about temperance, whaling, shipwrecks, and even an interesting paragraph on photography. Tucked within all of this is the only issue published of THE FOLIO, The First Newspaper For Women's Rights and The First Feminist Journal Published West Of The Mississippi. According to an article in THE HAWAIIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY (Volume XIX, 1985)---"The Folio of 1855--A Plea for Women's Rights," by Helen G. Chapin and David W. Forbes---the issue "is a blend of older, more conventional sentiments of women's natural superiority with more radical and newer ideas--in other words, double messages by which women and men intellectually and emotionally encompass ambiguities. Nevertheless, the total effect is one of a vigorous feminism." The first words of the paper are based on the Declaration of Sentiments of the Seneca Falls women's rights statement: "When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for a person or class of persons to sever the ties with which nature or society has bound them to a certain position or line of conduct.... We hold it to be a self-evident fact, that man [italics] is possessed of certain inalienable rights, and in the beginning, we declare ourselves free and independent of any disposition to invade those rights." The tone then softens a bit and the manifesto declares that women will claim their rights "not with tongue or sword, but pen." The articles in THE FOLIO were anonymously written, but research indicates that the authors were likely Julia Damon, the Rev. Damon's wife, and Catherine Whitney, wife of Henry Whitney, editor of the PACIFIC COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER. The articles within include verses, prayers, and stories about superior women who were wives and mothers--even one who saved a ship at sea when her husband the captain suddenly became ill. In one piece the author wittily warns men about the volcanic fires of Mauna Loa avenging women.

This single-issue newspaper was originally designed as a handout for a fair sponsored by the "Ladies of the Protestant Mission" and was subsequently reprinted and distributed to subscribers of the FRIEND in its next issue, with a circulation of about 1000 copies, as represented here. No example of the original handout is known to have survived. Another 25 years passed before a women's newspaper appeared again in Hawaii, and it too was a single issue only and was both more conventional and less interesting than its forerunner. An argument can be made that THE FOLIO is the very first newspaper dedicated to women's rights published anywhere as Amelia Bloomer's THE LILY, which was first published in 1849, began as a temperance journal and only later began including articles on women's rights.