New Arrivals at The Penang Bookshelf
in
May 2023
(Last Updated 05-05-2023)
- Each book advertised below includes a brief description of its contents and condition as well as the price in Malaysian Ringgit. If you want a fuller description of a used book's condition, to look at the scanned contents page, if any, and/or to find out the price in USD, please click on the link in blue for the relevant book.
- If you click on a link after the current month and find nothing, the book's been sold.
- Of course, if you want to buy anything you see here, you can either do so from the site or contact me at penangbookshelf@gmail.com.
- This page will be updated constantly until the end of the month.
- The prices shown here hold good for at least this month, but for out of print books, the prices may change in subsequent months.
- All prices include free postage to anywhere in Malaysia.
Malaysia & Singapore - The 'Emergency'
Bartlett was given all facilities by General Templer, the British High Commissioner for the Federation of Malaya at the time, to write this book. Templer was one of the pioneers of winning hearts and minds of potential supporters of guerillas, so he was probably keen on winning the hearts and minds of the British public as well. In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War guerilla warfare was probably novel when the recent war had been won by conventional battles and bombs. So the book sets out to be a survey of the Federation at the time, an explanation of how the war was fought and why the author and his backers considered it necessary to fight it to the end. Good Hardback First US Edition 128 pages with 15 black and white photographs.
Borneo
East Kinabalu: Royal Society Expeditions 40th Anniversary Monograph - K. Ravi Mandalam & Others RM70
This monograph commemorates the Royal Society Expeditions of 1961 and 1964. These expeditions concentrated their research on the previously barely explored East side of the mountain. 143 pages. Please see the scan of the contents page for further details.
An account of the attempt of the author and a friend to climb Bukit Batu Lawi in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak. Apart from their climbing skills and supplies, they brought with them Tom Harrisson's World Within, his wartime account of his experiences in the same area. Lightner weaves both his own experiences and those of Harrisson in this unusual account of trekking in Borneo. Good Hardback in a Good Dust Jacket. 237 pages with a bibliography and maps on the end papers.
An introduction to the third largest island in the world, divided into all or parts of three states, Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia. Subjects covered include the island's history, culture, peoples and wildlife. Very Good Paperback. 176 pages
Junaidi Payne, one of the leading authorities on the natural history of Sabah, Borneo, takes the reader on extensive journey through the area. The book cover's the state's geology and soils, the forests, wildlife, diverse peoples and Sabah's various regions. On this journey, Payne's informative text is accompanied by Cede Prudente's beautiful photography. New Hardback in a New Dust Jacket. First Edition. 208 pages with maps, a bibliography and an index.
This is the story of a couple of US adventurers' exploits in Borneo in 1936. They were keen aviators and claimed to be the first people to fly over the Borneo jungle. While on land they concentrated on the Kinabatangan River.Very Good Hardback in a Good Dust Jacket 233 pages with a selection of black and white plates and an index.
Malaysia & Singapore - Children
A collection of stories for children based on Bornean folklore. Good Hardback. First Edition. 118 pages with several black and white illustrations by the author.
Malaysia & Singapore - Indian Community & Culture
Minorities tend either not to be seen or heard and otherwise marginalised or to have a community impact disproportionately greater than their size. The Sikhs, both in the Punjab and elsewhere, tend to fall into the latter category. In Malaysia since arriving in the late 19th century, mainly to join the colonial military and police, they have moved into politics, the professions and business. Here the author seeks to correct and fill in gaps in other histories of the community, provide greater detail of Sikh community activities and, importantly, their role in the independence movement. New Hardback. First Edition. 488 pages with a bibliography, index and many mainly black and white photographs.
Malaysia & Singapore - Photography
A photographic essay through the seas of the Sunda Shelf, otherwise known as Sundaland, It includes Bali, Borneo, Java, and Sumatra in Indonesia, and their surrounding small islands, as well as the Malay Peninsula on the Asian mainland. Much of it has been submerged since the last glacial period between 110,000 and 12,000 years ago. The colour photographs are accompanied by verse. Near Fine Paperback. First Edition 147 pages with a bibliography and an index.
Indonesia
The Maloh are an indigenous group of people to the East of the Upper Kapuas lakes in Indonesian Borneo. At the time of King's research in the early 1970s, the Maloh had been subject to attempts at conversion, both to Islam and to Catholicism. His aim therefore was to try to find out as much about the Maloh's traditional life before it was changed by these outside influences. The work looks at their identity and territory, their oral history, traditional ranking systems, kinship, economics and politics. Very Good Hardback. First Edition 252 pages with about a dozen black and white plates, maps, a bibliography and author and subject indices.