This is a wonderfully illustrated and evocative look at the natural history of the Malay Peninsula. Now for the first time, all 477 drawings of the flora and fauna of the Malay Peninsula commissioned by Colonel William Farquhar during his time as British Resident and Commandant of Malacca from 1803 to 1818, are published in one volume. Covering a wide spectrum of species, the evocative paintings were rendered in brilliant watercolour by Chinese artists who employed both Chinese and Western painting techniques. In an era when photography was non-existent, the only means of recording nature and wildlife was through painting. Accompanied by authoritative essays and detailed captions, "Natural History Drawings" is a fascinating window both into the natural history of the time and the 19th-century British settlement in the Malay Peninsula.

The founding of Singapore has typically been attributed to the strategic genius of one man, Stamford Raffles. Frequently overlooked is the part played by his superior in the East India Company, the Marquess of Hastings. It was Hastings who, as Governor-General of India, made the fateful decision to establish a British trading post at the southern entrance of the Malacca Straits, and once this was executed with great daring by Raffles in early 1819, it was Hastings again who supported the retention of Singapore against opposition from all quarters. This book provides an intimate account of Singapore's founding by drawing on the personal correspondence between these two men, which they maintained separately from their official exchanges. Published here for the first time, these private letters reveal at first-hand the challenges that Raffles and Hastings faced in maneuvering within the Dutch-dominated East Indies. Just as significantly, they reveal the complex relationship between the two men-evolving from mutual suspicion at the outset to cooperation and admiration, but nonetheless peppered throughout with backbiting, hidden agendas and the clash of personal ambitions. Historian John Bastin brings rigorous scholarship to bear on this work, at the same time presenting it in a clear, readable style that will engage specialist and general readers alike.

This pair of elegant, slip-cased volumes are devoted to Raffles' second wife, Sophia (1786-1858), who wrote the first published account of her husband's life and achievements, and his lesser-known but equally, if not more intriguing, first wife, Olivia (1771-1814). The volumes contain meticulously researched information about the two ladies, their relationships with their husband, and the character and family life of the founder of the modern Singapore. There are also illuminating sidelights onto lifestyles of the early colonial era. The books include full-colour and monochrome illustrations and engravings and have separate bibliographies.