What I picked up at the Auction

Auction Purchases

June 2011

This is the list of my purchases at the auction I attended in the UK in June. The descriptions have been taken from the auction details. Most of the the books are on their way to Penang by sea. However, some I have with me now. The first three items and Nos 22 and 24 are with me. I hope my information about the rest is correct, but will be more sure when the books arrive!

1. 1932 Penang (Prince of Wales Island) Picturesque Island of Malaya, booklet of large plate

photographs of Penang, purchaser has added some manuscript comments to some pages,

bright fresh copy and very attractive

2. Penang Information Guide September 1935 – Gratis pub. Pinang Gazette Press, small guide

with folded map of Georgetown, paper cover with slight faults but good overall condition

3.   A Yellow Sleuth by ‘Nor Nalla’(HB), poor but readable, scarce F.M.S. Police story (I am in the process of having this book re-bound.)

4. Malaya (S.S., F.M.S. etc.) by R.O.Winstedt; Footprints in Malaya by Sir Frank Swettenham

(DJ faults), both HB, fair to good

5. The Cree Journals pub. Webb & Bower(HB&DJ); Glimpses in to Life in Malayan Lands

Thomson(SB); Rambles in Java & the Straits in 1852 by Bengal Civilian(SB); The Pirate

Wind by Rutter(SB), all good  

6. With My Back to the East by Bernard Llewellyn(DJ); In Javanese Waters by Ponder; The

Story of the British Empire in Pictures pub. Odhams; Emerging South East Asia by Fryer.

4HB, good

7. The Jungle Ends Here, also Malayan Landscape(DJ), both by Katherine Sim; My Other

Family by Patricia Morley(DJ); Diversion in Malaya by Anthony Hill, all HB

8.  A small selection of Booklets, 8 items, including Singapore to Shoreditch by Langley;

Historic Malaya, also A Short History of Malaya by M.Sheppard, Britain & Malaya by

Windstedt; The New Malaya & You by Egmont Hake(HB); The Travellers Malay

Pronouncing Handbook, etc., fair to good

9. Borneo, etc. – A Stroll Through Borneo by Barclay (DJ); Borneo People by M.MacDonald;

Land Below the Wind by Agnes Keith; First Overland (Oxbridge 1950’s Asia Expedition)

(DJ); odd faults but generally O.K

10.  Fiction – Across to Singapore by Ben Ames Williams; The Burning Shore by Elleston

Trevor; A Many Splendoured Thing by Han Suyin; When the Enemy is Tired by Russell

Braddon; South By Java head by Alistair Maclean; A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute, all

HB, two with slightly faulty DJ, otherwise fair to good

11.  Fiction – A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute; Fires of Spring, also Tanah Mera, both by

Noel Barber; Night Run From Java by Gavin Black; And the Rain My Drink by Han Suyin,

all HB, last three with DJ, good condition

12. Fiction: -Death March by Laurie Andrews; The Camp on Blood Island by J.M.White & Val

Guest; Bridge on the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle(2 editions); Return from the River Kwai

by Joan & Clay Blair; Singapura by Christopher Nicole; Selangor by Gerry Barton; King rat

by James Clavell; The Seed & the Sower by Laurens van der Post; Empire of the Son by

J.G.Ballard; Imperial 109 by Richard Doyle; The Forests of the Night by Sarah Harrison;

The Tub by Hugh V. Clarke; Storm Over Singapore by Alfred Draper; Fools Gold by

Frederick Lees(author signed); Escape From the Rising Sun by Ian Skidmore; Tenko by

Anthony Masters; Tenko Reunion by Anne Valery; The Singapore grip by J.G.Farrell;

Where Are All the Madmen by Arthur Lane, all SB, mainly good condition. 20 books & a

good lot

13.  Japan at War by Collier; Fifth Year of War in

Pictures pub. Odhams; The Second World War in the Far East by Willmott(DJ), all HB, fair

to good

14. The War in Malaya & Indonesia 1941-1945 edited by Philip Cockrill; Sold For Silver by

Janet Lim; The Jungle is Neutral by Spencer Chapman; Malayan Postscript, and The War

Against Japan, both by Ian Morrison, first SB booklet, others HB

15. The Heroes by Ronald McKie; Against the Sun by Janet Uhr; Return of the Tiger by Brian

Connell; Bloody Buna by Leda Mayo (New Guinea campaign), last two HB, last with DJ,

good condition

16. Tales by Japanese Soldiers by Kazuo Tamayama & John Nunneley; The War Journal of

major Damon (Rocky) Gause; Changi the Funny Side by Slim DeGrey; Priest in Prison by

John Hayter; Refugee From the Japanese by Dorothy Thatcher & Robert Cross, all SB good

condition

17. The Will to Live by Sir John Smyth; Blind to Misfortune by Bill Griffiths; White Coolies by

Betty Jeffrey; Quiet Jungle -Angry Sea by Denis Gavin; 4000 Bowls of Rice by Linda

Goetz Holmes; Bamboo & Bushido by Alfred Allbury, all HB with DJ (odd faults) except

last good condition

18. Campaigning in Captivity by A.R.Wiggins; Prisoners of Santo Tomas by Celia Lucas; The

Flamboya Tree by Clara Olink Kelly; The Railway Man by Eric Lomax; Lest We Forget

by Fred Seiker; Living Hell by Goh Ghor Boon, all SB, good condition

19. Prisoner of the Japanese by Tom Wade; Life and Death in Changi – The Diary of Tom

Kitching; Elizabeth Choy – More Than a War Heroine by Zhou Mei; The Rainbow Through

the rain by Geoffrey Scott Mowatt, author signed slip of paper; Slaves of the Son of Heaven

by Roy Whiteceross, all SB in good condition

20. Railway -Through the Valley of the Kwai by E.Gordon; White Coolie by R.Hastain; And

All the Trumpets by D.Smith; Banzai You Bastards by J.Edwards; Tamajao 241 by Ernest

Warwick, all HB & DJ, good to fair

21. European Settlements in the Far East -with map & illustrations, 1st edit. 1900 Sampson

Low, etc., slight wear/minor faults, end papers toned but stamped Kelly & Walsh Singapore

& ms Campbell McKellar Terap 1901; The Oxford Survey of the British Empire Vol. II –

Asia, 3 folding maps, good. Both HB, attractively bound, former with full rigged junk on

cover, latter world map in oval on cover, etc

22. F.M.S. 1924 paper for Federal Council – A narrative history of the Prai River Wharves from

1899 to date, including the question of Siltage, 61pp foolscap, map of Prai, 2 folding charts

of soundings. Rare original document that shows the wharves were built by the F.M.S.R. at

great cost in a totally unsuitable place!!

23. Malay Proverbs, Chosen & Introduced by Sir Richard Winstedt 1950 1st edit.; Malay

Sayings by C.C.Brown, both HB, former with DJ(toned), odd small fault but both good.

Nice pair complimenting each other

24. British North Borneo by Owen Rutter, 1922 with photographs & maps, HB, end papers

toned, etc., rubber Co. h/s, etc. but good copy with water buffalo on cover. Now on my website