(1922) FIRST NAVAJO-LANGUAGE HYMNAL

 ONLY TWO COPIES RECORDED, THIS BEING THE HYMNAL'S FIRST APPEARANCE AT AUCTION

Rev. Leonard P. Brink (1897–1966), editor. Nihî Nihiyin (Our Own Songs): A Collection of Christian Songs in the Navaho Language. Toadlena, New Mexico: n.p., privately printed, 1922.

8vo, 5 3/8 x 7 3/4 in. 60 hymns, 63 pp. Original wrappers. FIRST EDITION. Not in Correll et al., which lists only the 1928 second edition (p. 47).

Leonard Peter Brink (1876–1936) was a Michigan native who pursued a calling as a missionary. After his ordination in August 1900, he and his wife, Elizabeth Van Eeuwen, accepted a position among the Navajo in Tohatchi, New Mexico. In 1913, they relocated to Hanford, California, where Elizabeth passed away. Brink returned to New Mexico and the Navajo in 1914, initially to Tohatchi and then to Toadlena, where this small hymnal was published. In 1915, he married Grace Stevens, and together they had ten children. He was deeply involved in writing catechisms and translating hymns and portions of the Bible into the Navajo language, with his earliest publication appearing in 1908.

EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE. No copies have sold at auction. OCLC locates only two copies.

EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE. No copies have ever sold at auction. OCLC locates only 2 copies. 

[Native Americans, Native American History, American Indian, Indian History] [Books, Bibles, Soldiers' Bibles, Prayer Books, Ephemera, Pamphlets, Publications, Booklets, Memoirs]

Wear to lower hinge, resulting in minor loss to front wrapper. Central leaf (pp. 31-34) loose from staple binding.