The History of Java -
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles
1817 - Printed for Black, London - First Edition
A beautifully presented first edition set of this landmark work one of only 900 copies, finely bound by Riviere and Son, with large original sheets and untrimmed edges. ‘A magnificent survey of the customs, dress, language, religion, culture, and history of the Javanese people as written by Thomas Stamford Raffles, British colonial agent cum Imperial statesman and later founder of modern Singapore.
The marriage of a scientifically original text with beautiful illustrations by an accomplished aquatint engraver resulted in a book about Indonesia of outstanding quality; indeed a masterpiece.’ [Bastin and Brommer]
Those illustrations include a include a large (114x44cm) folding linen-backed hand-coloured map ‘Map of Java’ with inset ‘Mineralogical Sketch of the Island of Java’ and an engraved map of the ‘Countries referred to in the Brata Yud’ha &c’, ten finely hand coloured aquatint costume plates engraved by William Daniell who visited the island in 1785 and 1793, two soft-ground etched frontispieces, nine engraved vignettes, and a further fifty five black and white plates which include seven of temples (one of which is double page), two musical scores, ten of alphabets and inscriptions, eight of weapons and tools, two of musical instruments and masks, and twenty six others.
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) ‘was interested in every aspect of his subject, and devotes whole sections to Javan ethics, literature, poetry, music and musical instruments, drama, games of skill and methods of hunting, besides the more ordinary matters of interest, population, natural history, religion, antiquities, and the military system. At the end of the second volume a hundred and fifty pages are given up to the comparative vocabularies of Java and the neighbouring islands, and the whole is a unique monument erected by a great ruler to those over whom he rules, and incidentally, to his own honour, stands very high in its own class and the aquatint plates are full of interest’ [Prideaux] ‘The publication of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles's The History of Java in 1817 marked a new sophistication in the recording of British experiences of the island. Providing a depth of analysis and breadth of subject matter, Raffles's publication was not the fairly simplistic diaristic account of adventure and opinion that had characterised many earlier British publications on Southeast Asia, but a highly detailed, minutely observed and handsomely illustrated study - Sarah Tiffin, Raffles and the Barometer of Civilisation.
Raffles was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Java in 1811 when the island and its dependancies were occupied by Lord Minto following the Annexation of the Netherlands by Napoleon. During the next five years he extended he area of European control and reorganised the Dutch colonial system in the island, as well as making an extensive study of the history, customs and languages of the region. From 1818 to 1824 he went on to serve as the British resident at Bencoolen in Sumatra. He ‘sought to put into practice the most advanced Western views of his time on personal liberty, judicial equality, education, free trade, penal reform, and slave emancipation. A man of vision, with great ambitions for himself and his country, he saw Britain's mission to raise the people of the eastern archipelago from ignorance and poverty, not by means of territorial expansion but a combination of commercial and moral pre-eminence: reviving old cultures and spreading European enlightenment through economic progress, liberal education, and the rule of law...’ (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).
Provenance.
General Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant, GCMG, KCH, Kt (1803-1874), with his 1856 inscription ‘Govt House, Halifax, Nova Scotia’ (page 189) Canada, where he was Lieutenant Governor of the colony of Novia Scotia (1852-8), and 1858 inscription ‘Palacio Valetta’ (page 217) where he was Governor of Malta (1858-64). Le Marchant was one of the youngest men to ever command a regiment as a major in Cape Colony. He was knighted after his 1835-37 service in Spain, he also held the post of Governor of Newfoundland (1847-52) and
Edward Joseph Dent (1876-1957) with his armourial bookplates ‘Patientia et Perseverantia’. A leading figure of musicology and music criticism, Dent was Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge between 1926 and 1941, and a governor of Sadler's Wells Opera. Also possibly in the possession of the major Dutch trading house Boasson & Van Overzee, with a letter enclosed dated 29 March 1924 to a Herr Oderwald, mentioning this as a gift.
References: Abbey,Travel, 554. Bastin and Brommer, Nineteenth Century prints and illustrated books of Indonesia, 81. Tooley, English Books with Coloured Plates, 1790 to 1860 (1954), 391. Hill, Pacific Voyages, 1413 (1844 edition). Prideaux, 252. Wellcome IV, 464.
Two large quarto volumes (binding size 29.1x24cm), pp. [2] xlviii 479 [1] [6]; [4] viii 291 [1] cclx [1 (publisher's notice dated May, 1817)] [1] [2 (publisher’s ads)] [4]. Large folding Map of Java to rear of volume I, and folding schematic of Large Temple opposite page 19 of volume II. Bound without half-titles.
Collated - Vol I - 31 plates including ‘Aksára Jáwa’ and ‘Aksára Búd’da, or Ancient Alphabet’, two plates on one sheet (p.360), map (p.412), and ‘Javan Music’ two plates on one sheet (p.470); large folding map (linen backed); 2 folding statistical tables (opp. pp.62, 306). Vol II - 37 plates including one folding. Bound by Riviere & Son in three-quarter navy morocco over matching cloth boards, spines lettered in gilt, blue marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Condition: Near fine, some foxing to later endpapers and outer margins, short tear to head of Volume II contents page, in near fine bindings, some bumping to corners. Ref: 112640 Price: HK$ 95,000
The marriage of a scientifically original text with beautiful illustrations by an accomplished aquatint engraver resulted in a book about Indonesia of outstanding quality; indeed a masterpiece.’ [Bastin and Brommer]
Those illustrations include a include a large (114x44cm) folding linen-backed hand-coloured map ‘Map of Java’ with inset ‘Mineralogical Sketch of the Island of Java’ and an engraved map of the ‘Countries referred to in the Brata Yud’ha &c’, ten finely hand coloured aquatint costume plates engraved by William Daniell who visited the island in 1785 and 1793, two soft-ground etched frontispieces, nine engraved vignettes, and a further fifty five black and white plates which include seven of temples (one of which is double page), two musical scores, ten of alphabets and inscriptions, eight of weapons and tools, two of musical instruments and masks, and twenty six others.
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) ‘was interested in every aspect of his subject, and devotes whole sections to Javan ethics, literature, poetry, music and musical instruments, drama, games of skill and methods of hunting, besides the more ordinary matters of interest, population, natural history, religion, antiquities, and the military system. At the end of the second volume a hundred and fifty pages are given up to the comparative vocabularies of Java and the neighbouring islands, and the whole is a unique monument erected by a great ruler to those over whom he rules, and incidentally, to his own honour, stands very high in its own class and the aquatint plates are full of interest’ [Prideaux] ‘The publication of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles's The History of Java in 1817 marked a new sophistication in the recording of British experiences of the island. Providing a depth of analysis and breadth of subject matter, Raffles's publication was not the fairly simplistic diaristic account of adventure and opinion that had characterised many earlier British publications on Southeast Asia, but a highly detailed, minutely observed and handsomely illustrated study - Sarah Tiffin, Raffles and the Barometer of Civilisation.
Raffles was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Java in 1811 when the island and its dependancies were occupied by Lord Minto following the Annexation of the Netherlands by Napoleon. During the next five years he extended he area of European control and reorganised the Dutch colonial system in the island, as well as making an extensive study of the history, customs and languages of the region. From 1818 to 1824 he went on to serve as the British resident at Bencoolen in Sumatra. He ‘sought to put into practice the most advanced Western views of his time on personal liberty, judicial equality, education, free trade, penal reform, and slave emancipation. A man of vision, with great ambitions for himself and his country, he saw Britain's mission to raise the people of the eastern archipelago from ignorance and poverty, not by means of territorial expansion but a combination of commercial and moral pre-eminence: reviving old cultures and spreading European enlightenment through economic progress, liberal education, and the rule of law...’ (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography).
Provenance.
General Sir John Gaspard Le Marchant, GCMG, KCH, Kt (1803-1874), with his 1856 inscription ‘Govt House, Halifax, Nova Scotia’ (page 189) Canada, where he was Lieutenant Governor of the colony of Novia Scotia (1852-8), and 1858 inscription ‘Palacio Valetta’ (page 217) where he was Governor of Malta (1858-64). Le Marchant was one of the youngest men to ever command a regiment as a major in Cape Colony. He was knighted after his 1835-37 service in Spain, he also held the post of Governor of Newfoundland (1847-52) and
Edward Joseph Dent (1876-1957) with his armourial bookplates ‘Patientia et Perseverantia’. A leading figure of musicology and music criticism, Dent was Professor of Music at the University of Cambridge between 1926 and 1941, and a governor of Sadler's Wells Opera. Also possibly in the possession of the major Dutch trading house Boasson & Van Overzee, with a letter enclosed dated 29 March 1924 to a Herr Oderwald, mentioning this as a gift.
References: Abbey,Travel, 554. Bastin and Brommer, Nineteenth Century prints and illustrated books of Indonesia, 81. Tooley, English Books with Coloured Plates, 1790 to 1860 (1954), 391. Hill, Pacific Voyages, 1413 (1844 edition). Prideaux, 252. Wellcome IV, 464.
Two large quarto volumes (binding size 29.1x24cm), pp. [2] xlviii 479 [1] [6]; [4] viii 291 [1] cclx [1 (publisher's notice dated May, 1817)] [1] [2 (publisher’s ads)] [4]. Large folding Map of Java to rear of volume I, and folding schematic of Large Temple opposite page 19 of volume II. Bound without half-titles.
Collated - Vol I - 31 plates including ‘Aksára Jáwa’ and ‘Aksára Búd’da, or Ancient Alphabet’, two plates on one sheet (p.360), map (p.412), and ‘Javan Music’ two plates on one sheet (p.470); large folding map (linen backed); 2 folding statistical tables (opp. pp.62, 306). Vol II - 37 plates including one folding. Bound by Riviere & Son in three-quarter navy morocco over matching cloth boards, spines lettered in gilt, blue marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Condition: Near fine, some foxing to later endpapers and outer margins, short tear to head of Volume II contents page, in near fine bindings, some bumping to corners. Ref: 112640 Price: HK$ 95,000