''A korao no New Zealand; or, the New Zealander's first book'' was written by Anglican missionary

Thomas Kendall Thomas Kendall (13 December 1778 – 6 August 1832) was a New Zealand missionary, recorder of the Māori language, schoolmaster, arms dealer, and Pākehā Māori. Early life: Lincolnshire and London, 1778–1813 A younger son of farmer Edw ...

in 1815, and is the first book written in the

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

. The full title is ''A korao no New Zealand, or, The New Zealander's first book : being an attempt to compose some lessons for the instruction of the natives''. 200 copies were printed in Sydney by missionary

Samuel Marsden Samuel Marsden (25 June 1765 – 12 May 1838) was an English-born priest of the Church of England in Australia and a prominent member of the Church Missionary Society, believed to have introduced Christianity to New Zealand. Marsden was a prom ...

in 1815. The only known extant copy is held by

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira (or simply the Auckland Museum) is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its collections concentrate on New Zealand history (and especially the history of the Aucklan ...

. In 2014, the book was added to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.

References

External links

Digital copy A digital copy is a commercially distributed computer file containing a media product such as a film or music album. The term contrasts this computer file with the physical copy (typically a DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, or Ultra HD Blu-ray disc) with ...

of the volume held at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Māori Māori language 1815 in New Zealand 1815 non-fiction books New Zealand books Memory of the World Register {{Māori-stub