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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.
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