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Please see photos for condition. This is part of a large collection of more than 15 of his journals.
Original 1935 Thacker’s Pocket Diary, published in Bombay (Mumbai), British India, by Thacker & Co., Ltd., one of the leading English-language publishers and booksellers of the British Raj. Produced specifically for residents of colonial India, the diary includes period reference material such as Indian postal and telegraph rates, government regulations, calendars, and other information unique to British India. The title page also advertises the original £500 Accident Insurance Coupon included with the diary, an interesting feature of period British pocket diaries. Used by Dr. James Campbell (J.C.) Manry, a Harvard-educated Presbyterian missionary, educator, and professor who spent more than three decades teaching in India, this volume is both a fascinating British Indian pocket diary and an exceptional handwritten primary-source manuscript documenting missionary life in colonial India during the final years of the British Raj.
About Dr. James Campbell (J.C.) Manry (1893–1957)
Dr. James Campbell “J.C.” Manry (September 27, 1893 – 1957) was an American Presbyterian missionary, educator, philosopher, author, and scholar whose distinguished career spanned more than four decades. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, he graduated from Boys’ High School before earning his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in 1914. In 1915, at just twenty-one years old, he accepted an appointment with the Presbyterian Church and sailed to British India as a missionary, beginning a lifetime devoted to Christian education, higher learning, and intercultural understanding. During a furlough to the United States, he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Iowa in 1923 before returning to India to continue his work.
From 1915 until the mid-1940s, Dr. Manry served as professor, administrator, and missionary educator at several of northern India’s most respected Christian institutions, including Ewing Christian College in Allahabad and Forman Christian College in Lahore (now Pakistan). He taught philosophy, religion, ethics, history, and Christian thought, believing that education was one of the most effective forms of missionary service. His years in India coincided with some of the most significant events of the twentieth century, including World War I, the rise of Mahatma Gandhi, the Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–1922), the Civil Disobedience Movement beginning in 1930, World War II, and ultimately the end of British colonial rule, Indian Independence, and the Partition of India in 1947.
Throughout his decades overseas, Dr. Manry witnessed firsthand the dramatic political, religious, and cultural transformation of the Indian subcontinent. In addition to his educational work, he participated in humanitarian and refugee relief efforts during World War II and again during the enormous refugee crisis created by the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. His journals, diaries, and writings document not only missionary life but also daily observations of colonial society, higher education, travel, religion, philosophy, politics, and everyday life in British India during a period of extraordinary historical change.
Following his return to the United States after more than thirty years in India, Dr. Manry served as Visiting Professor of the History of Religion and Missions at Emory University before joining the faculty of Duke Divinity School, where he continued teaching theology, comparative religion, philosophy, and missions until his death in 1957. He was widely respected as a scholar, educator, lecturer, and missionary whose influence extended through generations of students in both India and the United States.
Dr. Manry was also the father of Robert Manry (1918–1971), the celebrated journalist and adventurer who achieved worldwide fame in 1965 by becoming the first person to sail solo across the Atlantic Ocean in the tiny 13½-foot sailboat Tinkerbelle. Robert was born in Landour, India, while his parents were serving as Presbyterian missionaries.
Original handwritten journals, manuscript diaries, correspondence, and personal papers of Dr. J.C. Manry are exceptionally scarce and represent important primary-source historical documents. A journal dating from 1920 was written only five years after his arrival in India, during the height of the British Raj and at the beginning of Gandhi’s Non-Cooperation Movement. Such manuscripts offer firsthand accounts of missionary work, Christian education, colonial India, cross-cultural experiences, travel, religion, philosophy, and daily life during one of the most transformative periods in South Asian history. They are highly desirable to collectors and institutions specializing in missionary history, British India, colonial history, South Asian studies, Presbyterian history, Harvard University alumni, Christian education, archival manuscripts, Americana, travel, and twentieth-century historical documents.
The Antique 1920 Letts's Quickref Diary Journal is a unique and valuable collectible item that provides a glimpse into the life of a Christian missionary in India during the early 20th century. This journal offers a rare perspective on the mission work and daily activities of a devout individual during a period of significant religious and historical change in the region. With its detailed entries and historical significance, this diary serves as a valuable artifact for collectors and history enthusiasts interested in the legacy of Christian missions in India.
