Buy this book on-line

BROOKE, Charles : Ten Years in Sarawak. With an Introduction by H.H. The Rajah Sir James Brooke. In Two Volumes. FIRST EDITION

1866

Tinsley brothers. London. 1866. In Two Volumes. First edition. Vol. I. xv, 373 pages. frontis, large folding map torn without loss and 4 other plates; Vol. II. viii, [ii], 344. Frontis. + 5 plates and table to appendix. Bound in half roan, worn and rubbed, marbled boards rubbed. Titles faded to spine. Bookplate from the Darenth Vale Literary Institute to front pastedown of volme I. Occasional foxing and browning to pages, inner hinges partially visible but sound. Generally a clean set. SCARCE. In 1839, Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin II (1827–1852) assigned his uncle Pangeran Muda Hashim the task of restoring order but his inability to do so caused him to request the aid of British sailor James Brooke. Brooke's success in quelling the revolt was rewarded with antimony, property and the governorship of Sarawak, which at that time consisted only of a small area centred on Kuching.The Brooke family, later called the White Rajahs, set about expanding the territory they had been ceded. With expansion came the need for efficient governance and thus, beginning in 1841, Sarawak was separated into the first of its administrative divisions with currency, the Sarawak dollar, beginning circulation in 1858. By 1912, a total of five divisions had been established in Sarawak, each headed by a Resident. The Brooke family generally practised a paternalistic form of government with minimal bureaucracy, but were pressured to establish some form of legal framework. Since they were unfamiliar with local customs, the Brooke government created an advisory Supreme Council, mostly consisting of Malay chiefs, to provide guidance. This council is the oldest state legislative assembly in Malaysia, with the first General Council meeting taking place at Bintulu in 1867. Charles Anthoni Brooke {the author] succeeded his uncle in 1868 as the next White Rajah. Under his rule, Sarawak gained Limbang and the Baram and Trusan valleys from the Sultan of Brunei, later becoming a protectorate in 1888 with Britain handling foreign affairs but the Brooke government retaining administrative powers. Domestically, Brooke established the Sarawak Museum – the oldest museum in Borneo – in 1891 and brokered a peace in Marudi by ending intertribal wars there. Economic development continued, with oil wells drilling from 1910 and the Brooke Dockyard opening two years later. Anthony Brooke, who would become Rajah Muda (heir apparent) in 1939, was born in 1912. The White Rajah by Nicholas Montsarrat and one of George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman novels are based on the life of James Brooke.

Bibliophile Bookbase for antiquarian books, maps and prints.