Borneo and the Indian Archipelago. With Drawings of Costume and Scenery - Frank S. Marryat 1848 - Longman, London - First Edition A superbly illustrated work on Indonesia, and Rajah Brooke, with additional detail on Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.

Illustrations include the marvellous illustrated title page, chromolithographed colour frontispiece, twenty tinted lithographic plates, and thirty-seven woodcuts. Many of Marryat’s expertly lithographed drawings represent the earliest ethnographical records of life in Borneo and the Indian Archipelago.

Frank Marryat served as a Midshipman on board the H.M.S. Samarang on a surveying expedition to the Indian Archipelago, 1843-1846, cut short in consequence, as Mr. Marryat infers, of the ill-conditioned behaviour and unpopularity of her captain, Sir Edward Belcher.
  Hill [489] notes that ‘interesting information is given in this book on Singapore, Macao, and the Philippines’.

No provenance indicated, but the early hand-written
Short Index bound in at rear and pencil notes, are intriguing.

References: Abbey Travel 549. Howes M229. Hill,
Pacific Voyages, 1088.

Quarto (book size 28x19cm), pp. viii 232 [2 inserted hand-written ‘
Short Index’]. Bound with half title. Neatly rebacked using original cloth boards and spine, cloth re-laid over matching new cloth, new endpapers.
  Condition: Very good, wear to corners, and light soiling to boards, small water stain to 1cm x 3cm wide of upper edge of last few plates not affecting illustrations, one or two spots, generally internally a nice clean copy.   Ref: 106258   Price: HK$ 18,000