[NEW GUINEA; MISSIONS] Iesu Keriso eda Lohiabada Bona eda Hahemauri Tauna ena Taravatu Matamatana.

[=The New Testament in Motu]. London : The British and Foreign Bible Society, 1959. Small octavo (175 x 125 mm), publisher’s black cloth over boards lettered in gilt, edges stained red, pp 528; a fine copy; from The Papuan Collection of Charles Fletcher (Melbourne), his bookplate to the front free-endpaper.

Motu (sometimes called Pure Motu or True Motu to distinguish it from Hiri Motu) is a Central Papuan Tip language that is spoken by the Motuans, an indigenous ethnic group of Papua New Guinea centred around the Port Moresby region.

The first edition of the New Testament in Motu, prepared for the London Missionary Society by the Congregationalist missionary W. G. Lawes, was published in 1891.

Trove locates 3 copies of this 1959 edition (University of Adelaide Library; SLV; NLA)