The Book That Inspired the White Rajah of Sarawak
EARL, George Samuel Windsor.
The eastern seas, or voyages and adventures in the Indian archipelago, in 1832-33-34, comprising a tour of the island of Java, visits to Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, Siam etc.; also an account of the present state of Singapore … London, Wm H. Allen and Co., 1837.
8vo, pp. xii, 461, [1 (blank)]; with 4 engraved maps on 2 folding sheets; a few light marks, a little toned; very good in contemporary tree-patterned calf, gilt border to covers, spine gilt in compartments with lettering-pieces, marbled edges and endpapers; joints repaired but lower joint splitting, some wear to extremities.
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The eastern seas, or voyages and adventures in the Indian archipelago, in 1832-33-34, comprising a tour of the island of Java, visits to Borneo, the Malay Peninsula, Siam etc.; also an account of the present state of Singapore …
First edition. Earl (1813–1865) spent two years voyaging in the Indonesian archipelago before being given his own command of the small schooner Stamford on a trading voyage to Borneo. He was an intelligent observer, and his account contains much important information on Singapore, Java, Bangkok, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The section on Borneo, some 160 pages, provides detailed descriptions of Sambas (including Earl’s meeting with the Sultan) and of Sarawak before the arrival of James Brooke – indeed this is the book that inspired Brooke to visit Sarawak. Earl includes an appendix of ‘observations on the unexplored parts of North and North-western Australia’.
Cordier, Indosinica 1462; Hill 411.