New Arrivals in September

New Arrivals in September

As of 28th September 2014
(Regularly Updated)

Listed below are books which have arrived at The Penang Bookshelf recently.  (All prices are post free within Malaysia. If you live outside Malaysia, please ask for a quote for postage.)

Prices are shown in Malaysian Ringgit in blue.  If you're looking for prices in other major currencies, you should be able to find them in The Penang Bookshelf Full Catalogue which is updated regularly. Books sold will be so marked. So if you want to order any of them or want further details of any of the books before you make up your mind, do contact me at penangbookshelf@gmail.com.

By the time you read this, some of the titles may already be on the Penang Bookshelf website and eBay store. Do check. Prices are in Malaysian Ringgit in the eBay store and in US Dollars on the main website. Each site has a new arrivals page for the current and previous months. Where the title is in bold in this blog and there is no description of the book or price, this is because it is linked to a fuller description of the book on www.penangbookshelf.com or in The Penang Bookshelf's eBay store. So have a look there.

The books are all used unless indicated otherwise. Abbreviations used are A = Acceptable, CD = CD Included, DJ = Dust Jacket, EL = Ex-library, F = Fine/AsNew, G = Good,  HB = Hardback, LB = Leatherbound, N = New, NF = Near Fine, PB = Paperback, SG = Author Signed Copy, SC = Slip Case and VG = Very Good

• A Borneo Journey Into Death: Berawan Eschatology from its Rituals - Peter Metcalf
• A History of Sarawak under its Two White Rajahs, 1839-1908 -  S Baring-Gould & CA Bamfylde (Henry Sotheran, 1909) HB G  RM440
• A Short History of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei - Mary C Turnbull - A brief introduction to the interconnected past of these theree modern states. As with any history of the area, this book emphasises how artificial the creation of these countries has been, thanks to colonial interventions of the past. 320 pages (Graham Brash, Singapore, 1980 ISBN: 9789971947064) PB VG RM60
• A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi: Revivalist of an Intellectual Tradition - Syed Al-Attas & Ng Tieh Chuan - This interesting book, although it appears to be a political biography, published shortly after Badawi's appointment as prime minister, mainly concerns the role of Islam in the modern world. This is achieved through the examination of the term 'Islam hadhari' favoured by Badawi who was keen to move the Malay community towards embracing the modern world within the framework of Islam. 160 pages (Pelanduk, 2005 ISBN: 9789679789119) HB NF RM50
• American Muslims and the Future of American-Islamic World Relations - John L Esposito
• Beyond Taijiquan: The Supremacy of the Tai Chi Mind - Wong Choon Ching (Pelanduk, 2003) PB F RM50  
• Borneo: Change and Development -  Mark Cleary & Peter Eaton - This book seeks to provide a historical, economic, social and environmental to the rapid pace of change in Borneo. Unusually it focuses on the island as a whole, rather than either a particular state or the Indonesian or Malaysian part of the island. 271 pages.(Oxford University Press, 1995 ISBN: 9789676531049) PB VG RMi50  

• British North Borneo - Owen Rutter
• Buddhism in Chinese Culture - Cheu Hock Tong (Pelanduk, 2000) PB F  RM60
• Cerita Bola Sepak Malaysia - Jemaah Penggila Bola Sepak Malaysia - Himpunan 14 cerita bola sepak dari jemaah penggila bola sepak untuk penggila bola sepak yang lain. 269 pages.  (Dubook, 2012 ISBN: 9789671105719) PB N  RM50
• Chinatown: An Album of a Singapore Community - Lily Tan - This album of photographs with accompanying text in Chinese and English sets out to preserve at least the pictorial history of the area of Singapore where most Chinese settled in its early years of the city. 168 pages - (Times, 1983) PB VG  RM70
• Chinese Pioneers on the Sarawak Frontier, 1841-1941 - Daniel Chew (Oxford University Press, 2004) PB F  RM150 SOLD
• Chinese Women and Modernity: Calendar Posters of the 1910s-1930s - Ng Chun Bong & Others - Selling - 2 copies remaining
• Conversion in Malaysia: Issues and Reform Proposals - Mohammad Hashim Kamali & Others (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia, 2012) PB N  RM40
• Coolies and Mandarins: China's Protection of Overseas Chinese During the Late Ch'ing Period (1851-1911)  -  Yen Ching-Hwang (Singapore University Press, 1985) PB F  RM150

• Cuzinhia Cristang: A Malacca-Portuguese Cookbook - Celine J Marbeck - The world is sprinkled with tiny communities left behind by departing colonists to fend for themselves. Some of the more fascinating are those left behind by the Portuguese in Asia since they managed to continue maintaining many aspects of Portuguese culture, including the language, with little or no contact with the 'motherland.' One such is the Jenti Cristang community in Malacca. Here the author shares a practical set of recipes demonstrating the unique blend of Malay, Straits Chinese, Indian, Portuguese and Dutch influences of the community's exotic blend of cooking. 168 pages . (Tropical Press, 1998) HB F DJ RM240
• Destination Chungking - Han Suyin (Panther, 1976) PB G  RM30
• Dialogue as Encounter in Faith: Problems and Prospects - Christian W Troll - A leading scholar on Christian-Muslim relations sets out in two essays firstly a basis for inter-faith dialogue, i.e. taking into account differences in each party's worldview as well as their theology and secondly practical issues that are likely to arise in such a dialogue. 60 pages- (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia, 2012 ISBN: 9789834427436) PB N  RM30
• Dialogues with Chin Peng -  CC Chin & Karl Hack
• Diaries in Ceylon, 1908-1911 - Leonard Woolf - Before he married Virginia Woolf and became a significant literary personality in his own right, the author was a colonial servant in British Ceylon. This his official record of his time as Assistant Government Agent in Hambantota in the South of the island. The book also contains three short stories by the author. lxxx & 286 pages with a fold out map.  (Tisara Prakasakayo, 1997) PB VG  RM200
• Dialogue Between Islam and the West: Where Are We and Where Are We Going? - John Orbert Vell (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia) PB N  RM30

• Dwarf Cichlids: A Handbook for their Identification, Care and Breeding - Horst Linke & Wolfgang Staeck - An extensive handbook giving details of various species from 11 genera with colour photos, details of their original habitat, specific traits, similar species, care and breeding of each species. 232 pages (Tetra Press, 1995 ISBN: 9781564651686) HB VG RM130
• Enhancing Inter-Ethnic Relations in Malaysia: Personal Observations on the 'Inter-Ethnic Module' in Public Universities - Shamsul Amri Baharuddin
  (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia, 2012) PB N  RM30
• Exile - Go Puan Seng (Michael Joseph, 1970) HB VG DJ RM40
• Floating on a Malayan Breeze: Travels in Malaysia and Singapore -  Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh -In 2004 the author, a young Singaporean with a Malaysian father, set off for a month cycling around Malaysia on a daily budget of RM10 (US$3). The experience inspired him to take a look at both Malaysia and Singapore, its people, history and customs, 'from the bottom up.' This book is the enjoyable result. 282 pages.   (NUS Press, 2012 ISBN: 9789971696474) PB N  RM60

• Ghafar: A Biography - Alias Mohamed
• Gelombang Reformasi Rakyat - Salleh Bakar (Reformasi Citra) PB VG  RM40
• Goh Chok Tong: Singapore's New Prime Minister - Alan Chong - Published shortly after Goh's appointment as Singapore's prime minister succeeding Lee Kuan Yew, this book looks back at his career and speculates as to whether he will be able to make his mark in his new role or merely keep the premier's seat warm in anticipation of the appointment of Lee Kuan Yew's son, Lee Hsien Loong. Hsien Loong succeeded Goh in 2004. 163 pages.- (Pelanduk, 1991 ISBN: 9789679783575) PB NF RM40
• Good Morning and Good Night - Margaret Brooke, Ranee of Sarawak

• 

• Government and Society in Malaysia - Harold Crouch - After fifteen years as a visiting academic in Malaysia, Crouch, a political scientist, sets forth his analysis of the components of the political system and how it works. He concludes that it is a balanced system of democracy and authoritarianism which serves to maintain the status quo. 266 pages - (Cornell University Press, 1996 ISBN: 9780801483103) PB NF  RM40
• Income Sharing Among Malay Peasants: A Study of Land Tenure and Rice Production -  Akimi Fujimoto - The work is based on research carried out in four villages in Province Wellesley and Kelantan. The author looks at how land tenure works, the economic aspects of rice production arising from the research and policy implications of the findings on potential Malaysian land reform. 290 pages - (Singapore University Press, 1983 ISBN: 9971690659) PB F  RM290
• Interfaith Engagement and Positive Peace: What Works and What is Missing - Katherine Marshall (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia, 2013) PB N  RM40
• Interim Report on the Economic Conditions and Prospects of the Orang Asli of Southeast Pahang - Bryan P Sharpe - At the time of writing this report there were approximately 8,000 Orang Asli (indigenous tribes people) in Southeast Pahang. The purpose of the report was to determine how this group could be incorporated into economic development in the state as a whole and to give a general picture of their economy, culture and their desires and aspirations for the future. 111 pages.- (Lembaga kemajuan Pahang Tenggara, 1976) PB VG  RM200
• Islam and The Future of Inter-Ethnic Relations in Malaysia - Chandra Muzaffar (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia) PB N  RM30
• Islam in Europe: Present Trends and Future Challenges - Christoph Marcinkowski and Nora S Eggen (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia, 2013) PB N  RM50
• Islam in Russia: Historical Facts and Modern Developments - Elmira Akhmetova (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia, 2013) PB N  RM50
• Jalan-Jalan: Images of Malaysia - Hans Hoeffer & Peter Hutton SOLD
• Justice in Islamic and Western Legal-Political Thought: A Dual Heritage Affecting Gender Justice in Malaysia - Nik Noriani Nik Badli Shah (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia, 2012) PB N  RM60

)

 

• Malay Society: Transformation and Democratisation - Khoo Kay Kim
• Malayan Fruits - Betty Molesworth Allen
• Malaysia in the Dangerous 80s - Lim Kit Siang (Democratic Action Party, 1982) PB G  RM150
• Memoir Khatijah Sidek: Puteri Kesateria Bangsa - Khatijah Sidek
• Mobilizing Gay Singapore: Rights and Resistance in an Authoritarian State - Lynette C Chua (NUS Press, 2014 ISBN: 9789971698157) - A history of the gay rights movement in Singapore based on interviews with activists and research of activist and government documentation. In the last two decades this criminalised minority has become more vocal while avoiding direct confrontation with the state. 215 pages. - PB N  RM80
• Mount Kinabalu: Borneo's Magic Mountain - KM Wong & CL Chan - A general introduction to Malaysia's highest mountain and the plants and wildlife in the region. With colour plates. 95 pages. (Natural History Publications, 1997 ISBN: 9789838120142) PB VG  RM40
• Muslims and Christians in the New Millennium: Towards a Dialogue for Civilisational Renewal - Seyyed Hossein Nasr (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia, 2011) PB N  RM40

• My Story - Lim Goh Tong (Pelanduk, 2005) PB N  RM40
• Nomads of the Borneo Rainforest: The Economics, Politics and Ideology of Settling Down - Bernard Sellato
• Nyonya Kueh - Ricky Ng (Seashore) PB N  RM40
• Old Kuching - Alice Yen Ho
• Old Penang - Sarnia Hayes Hoyt
• On the Road in Laos: An Anthropological Study of Road Construction and Rural Communities - Ing-Britt Trankell (Uppsala University, 1993) PB VG  RM70
• Penang's History, My Story - Wong Chun Wai & Friends - A collection of newspaper articles written over a year bringing to life Penang's history with a wide range of anecdotes backed up by historical research. The result is one of the more readable histories of the city. 326 pages - (Star Publications, 2014 ISBN: 9789839512526) PB N RM60
• Peshawar: Monumental Inscriptions: II - Susan Maria Farrington (British Association for Cemeteries in Asia, 1991) PB F RM100
• Questioning Arms Spending in Malaysia - Kua Kia Soong
• Rivers of Malaysia - Design Dimension, 1992 - A photographic journey through the rivers of Malaysia with a wealth of colour photos. 184 pages - (ISBN: 983872002X) HB VG DJ RM130 
• Running Amok: A Historical Inquiry - John C Spores

• Science and Spirituality in the Twenty-First Century - Elisabet Sahtouris - Sahtouris, an evolutionary biologist, has developed an approach, known as 'Living Systems Design,' where she applies principles of biology and evolution to organisational development. This booklet contains transcripts of two lectures delivered when in Malaysia in 2008. 58 pages-  (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia, 2013) PB N  RM40
• Shari'ah and Legal Pluralism in Malaysia - Constance Chevallier-Govers - The author, a leading international academic on the convergence and conflict of different legal systems, examines how Malaysia manages with applying shari'ah and civil law and makes five recommendations to make both systems function more effectively. 95 pages. (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia, 2010 ISBN: 9789834427474) PB N  RM40
• Shenton of Singapore: Governor and Prisoner of War - Brian Montgomery
• Shit - Shahnon Ahmad (Pustaka Reka, 1999) PB VG  RM100
• Smashing Terrorism in the Malayan Emergency: The Vital Contribution of the Police - Brian Stewart
• Starry Island: New Writing from Singapore - Frank & Fiona Sze-Lorrain Stewart (eds) - An issue of the Hawaii literary magazine, Manoa, devoted to Singapore writing. Including 14 short stories, 12 poems and four memoirs. 226 pages - (University of Hawaii Press, 2014. ISBN: 9780824847975) PB N  RM70
• Sylvia Lee Goh : A Malaysian Artist : Two Decades of the Heart, 1978-1998 - Goh Ken Wah (Xavier Goh Ken Wah) PB N  RM150
• Tales from the South China Seas - Charles Allen (ed)
• Tan Chiang Kiong Retrospective - Teh Ee Ming & Others (eds) (Penang State Museum & Art Gallery, 2013)  HB N DJ SG RM200
• Tan Sri Ahmad Noordin: Kampung Boy to Auditor General - Doh Joon Chien

• Templer, Tiger of Malaya - John Cloake
• The Harmony Silk Factory - Tash Aw
• The History of Malay Editorial Cartoons (1930s-1993) - Muliyadi Mahamood (Utusan, 2004) PB VG  RM160
• The Malay Art of Self Defense: Silat Seni Gayong -  Sheikh Shamsuddin
• The Myth of Dato' Onn Jafar: The Forgotten Hero - Paridah Abd Samad
• The Peoples of Malaysia - Fay Cooper Cole
• The Pirate Wind: Tales of the Sea-Robbers of Malaya - Owen Rutter  SOLD

• The Singapore Story: From Raffles to Lee Kuan Yew - Noel Barber 
• The Soul of Indonesia: A Cultural Journey - Umar Kayam - A pictorial travelogue captural the wide variety of cultural traditions within this far flung country. 147 pages -(Louisiana State University Press, 1985 ISBN: 9780807112410)  HB VG  RM60
• The Teenage Textbook or The Melting of the Ice Cream Girl - Adrian Tan (Hotspot Books, 1998) PB VG  RM160
• The Underside of Malaysian History: Pullers, Prostitutes, Plantation Workers… -  Peter J Rimmer & Lisa M Allen (eds) - Based on papers presented at a seminar at the Australian National University in 1985, this book brings together attempts by social historians to construct something of a people's history from the late 19th century onwards. After all, today's Malaysians are the descendants of those who laboured to develop the Malayan peninsula and have little in common with the colonial 'heroes' who people most histories that have been written about the country. 259 pages - (Singapore University Press, 1990 ISBN: 9789971691271) PB NF  RM250  SOLD
• Tun Sardon Jubir - Cecilia Tan  - The author, better known for her cookery book, Penang Nyonya Cooking here remembers one of Malaysia's unsung post-Merdeka politicians. He was both a central Government minister and Governor of Penang. 111 pages(Pelanduk, 1986)  PB F  RM40
• Transfer of Modern Science and Technology to the Muslim World - Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu  (International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies Malaysia, 2011) PB N RM60
• Tropical Rain Forest in South-East Asia: A Pictorial Journey - Ken Rubeli
• Vannathikulam: Butterfly Lake - Noel Nadesan (Vijitha Yapa, 2007) PB N  RM50
• White Gloves and Parasols: Women Travellers in Singapore - 1870s -  Isabella Bird & Others (Landmark, 2012) PB N  RM30
• Wives and Midwives: Childbirth and Nutrition in Rural Malaysia - Carol Laderman 

Glimpses of the Past - Wong Meng Voon (Review)

Random Review 13

Glimpses of the Past:

Stories from Malaysia and Singapore 

-----

Wong Meng Voon

(Heinemann Asia, 1981, ISBN: 9971640279)

After reading about three stories of this collection, I sat up with a bit of a jolt. Something seemed to be missing. Ah yes: none of these stories had any conclusion. I then looked back at the tile, Glimpses of the Past, and appreciated the message. Although the stories are fiction, the author was trying to produce an authentic representation of life. In real life, episodes seldom have the neat conclusions that some fiction writers manufacture. The story instead is just another stepping stone on the journey.

Bearing this point in mind, it was much easier to appreciate the author’s gentle and perceptive style. His writing enables the reader to eavesdrop on the lives of the characters who populate his stories. They were written at a time when labourers belonged to the country; none of the stories has any interaction with people who are not Malaysian or Singaporeans. Although a couple of the stories give glimpses of a more comfortable middle class life, on the whole, Wong’s characters are strugglers, making the best of the hard lot that has been dealt to them.

Once getting used to the nature of the stories, they are readable and engrossing. However soon I felt that there were also a couple of other aspects of life in the 60s and 70s that were missing, i.e. there was not much to laugh about and enjoy. Reflections on childhood were generally happy, but adult life comes across as being fairly miserable. Wong is definitely engaged with his characters in this ‘compassionate’ period of his career. (His later writings have been more satirical.) However it is a pity that he did not feel able to represent life as being more rounded with a few more flashes of joy.

With the exception of one story, Eight Hours in the Sewer, the stories’ characters are all from the Chinese community. Other communities barely intrude. All of the stories are the author’s translations of stories that were originally written in Chinese. So Wong presents a fairly one dimensional view of Malaysia and Singapore of the time. There is no problem with that: it may well be the way that many members of both countries’ main communities lived then and now. However, it was strange that there were probably only one or two references in this collection to religion, whether formal or popular. It is seldom that home life in any community in Malaysia or Singapore does not brush up against belief in the supernatural in some form or other.

Despite these two missing elements, of joy and religion, there is plenty to recommend in these poignant stories, particularly for readers who are not from the Chinese community. The author’s spare and imperceptibly crafted style beautifully show the common thread of humanity that binds all of us. Wong’s characters and the stories they inhabit are ordinary people faced with ordinary events, the true bedrock of any society, despite common misconceptions to the contrary.

 

Fixing Malaysia: In Fact and Fiction

Random Reviews 11 & 12

Fixing Malaysia:

In Fact and Fiction

Can We Save Malaysia, Please! - Kee Thuan Chye 

(Marshall Cavendish, 2014 ISBN: 9789814561235)

and

Green is the Colour - Lloyd Fernando 

(Epigram, 2012 ISBN: 9789810726850)

Although I had originally planned to write two separate reviews, I started to read Green is the Colour immediately after Kee Thuan Chye's book and couldn't help notice how struck I was by the interconnection that I saw between the two. Both books are written by polemicists, one a playwright and journalist and the other an academic and novelist. Both lament the state of life in Malaysia, one in the aftermath of the 1969 riots and the other today. Both authors would like to see a different Malaysia, one a politically different Malaysia, the other a culturally different country.

However, there are of course differences too. Primarily Kee's book is a collection of journalism while Fernando's novel has found its way into a growing body of English language Malaysian literature. Can We Save Malaysia, Please! may well be forgotten in ten years' time, while Green is the Colour is more likely to endure. 

Kee is a witty and trenchant journalist and his contributions could well be a useful record of early 21st century Malaysian history. However when the reader is given nearly three hundred pages covering just nine months' output, there is certain to be repetition. Like any good journalist, Kee writes each article to catch his audience's attention on a first reading. Similarly when he writes another article on the same subject, he fills in a bit of background for the reader. While the style works well on a blog or in a newspaper, it is almost sure to bore the reader when the same article appears in a collection. I checked a sample article in the book against the original on the internet and was unable to find that the original had been edited for the book. So after the first fifty pages, I skim read most of the rest of the book.

Green is the Colour is a racier read. The introduction to the characters at a dewan in the aftermath of the 1969 riots is a little choppy. However the book soon settles down into a pace that makes it difficult to put down. The sketchy introductions to the main characters soon take on more form as we follow Panglima, the 'Malay' purist, his idealistic anti racist counterpart, Dahlan, and Omar and Yun Ming who represent softer versions of the respective extremes. The women, Sara and Gita, are not so strongly drawn and usually play the roles of linking the men rather than driving the plot.

As one would expect, Fernando, the novelist, is more nuanced than the campaigning journalist, Kee. However they do share a common characteristic in that neither is able to paint a picture of  their 'demon' that is convincing. Panglima, the villain of the novel, has few, if any redeeming characteristics, while the Government, Kee's constant target, receives little, if any, praise. There is a danger in adopting a black and white approach in that the writer ends up preaching to the converted. Fernando was, at least, aware of the danger when he wrote of the idealist Dahlan '...Are not Dahlan's opponents committed, too? Is not Dahlan wrong just to bring an idea without asking how it should be brought in for people of different cultures?'

Fernando does not fall into the trap of presenting the characters with whom he has most sympathy as being flawless. Sara is naive in her dealings with Dahlan, while Yun Ming, a capable Government servant, is reckless in pursuing his love of Sara and Omar is a brute in the bedroom. By contrast I did not find any of Kee's articles taking the Opposition to task in the same way as he does the Government.

 

On the other hand Kee Thuan Chye's books clearly do sell otherwise his publishers would not continue to bring out new collections of his journalism. He must have a strong following: a Reader's Digest poll found him to be the 34th most trusted individual in Malaysia. You can see why. When he sticks to the unvarnished facts, as he does in his article 'Mayday for MH370 and Malaysia', he is spot on and hits his target hard. I hope one day a wider readership will better appreciate his journalism in an edited compendium of his quality pieces.

Lloyd Fernando's message is more timeless. His narrative is interwoven with quotes and reflections that can be more easily absorbed by the general reader. Green is the Colour also has a transnational message for any country struggling with national, racial and religious identities. The book does not provide a solution. Each of the characters has her or his own take on that. However Fernando does provide plenty for debate.

Its should be remembered that, despite the time lapse between publication of the two books, both authors were conscious of living in a society where speaking one's mind on 'national' issues was and is difficult. As Fernando puts it ",If a third person was present, ...you speak for that person's benefit. If he was Malay, you speak one way, Chinese another way, Indian another. ...In the end the spun tissue, like an unsightly scab, became your vision of what happened: the wound beneath continued to run pus."

Neither author falls into this trap: both are forthright with a purpose. The purpose is to encourage readers to dare to reveal their own truths more often so as to be an authentic spur to change. Fernando's novel illustrates the pains of change, while Kee's articles emphasise the obstacles. Nevertheless, the prospects for change, however blurry and frightening, are brighter because Fernando and Kee, at least, did not keep silent.

 

 

New Arrivals in August

New Arrivals in August

As of 13th August 2014
(Regularly Updated)

Listed below are books which have arrived at The Penang Bookshelf recently.  (All prices are post free within Malaysia. If you live outside Malaysia, please ask for a quote for postage.)

Prices are shown in Malaysian Ringgit in blue.  If you're looking for prices in other major currencies, you should be able to find them in The Penang Bookshelf Full Catalogue which is updated regularly. Books sold will be so marked. So if you want to order any of them or want further details of any of the books before you make up your mind, do contact me at penangbookshelf@gmail.com.

By the time you read this, some of the titles may already be on the Penang Bookshelf website and eBay store. Do check. Prices are in Malaysian Ringgit in the eBay store and in US Dollars on the main website. Each site has a new arrivals page for the current and previous months. Where the title is in grey bold in this blog, it is linked to a fuller description of the book on www.penangbookshelf.com or in The Penang Bookshelf's eBay store.

The books are all used unless indicated otherwise. Abbreviations used are A = Acceptable, CD = CD Included, DJ = Dust Jacket, EL = Ex-library, F = Fine/AsNew, G = Good,  HB = Hardback, LB = Leatherbound, N = New, NF = Near Fine, PB = Paperback, SG = Author Signed Copy, SC = Slip Case and VG = Very Good

 -

• 3D Glamorous Beaded Embroidery/Sulaman Glamor Manik 3D - Rosita Jaffar (FTIM Designing Centre, 2010) PB N RM60
• A History of Malaya - RO Winstedt (Marican & Sons, 1962) HB VG  RM160
• Among the White Moon Faces - Shirley Geok-lin Lim
• Borneo People - Malcolm MacdonaldSOLD
• Beaded Accessories/Aksesori Manik - Rosita Jaffar (FTIM Designing Centre, 2010) PB N RM60
• Beaded Flowers/Bunga-Bunga Manik - Rosita Jaffar (FTIM Designing Centre, 2010) PB N RM60
• Beads Crystal and Thread Emroidery/Sulaman Manik Kristal dan Benang - Rosita Jaffar (FTIM Designing Centre, 2010) PB N RM60
• British Malaya - LA Mills
• Can We Save Malaysia, Please! - Kee Thuan Chye - Exasperated, but ever hopeful, Kee launches into his fourth polemic on what he sees that needs fixing in Malaysia today. His previous three broadsides became best sellers and it's unlikely that his fourth tirade will fare any worse. Despite his penchant for scathing and witty attack, the author does also pose some imaginative solutions for the crisis that confronts him. - (Marshall Cavendish, 2014 ISBN: 9789814561235) PB N  RM50
• Common Malayan Birds - MWF Tweedie (Longmans, 1960)  HB G  RM40
• Common Malaysian Moths - Avril Fox (Longmans, 1986)  HB VG  RM150

• Fortitude: The Life and Times of Heah Joo Seang - Pamela Ong - The first biography of one of Penang's more prominent businessmen in the first half of the twentieth century. As was often the case, it was a rags to riches story, but rather than concentrate on that aspect, the author highlights the reforms that he brought to the rubber industry, his philanthropy and his politics during the independence period. As a Straits Born Chinese he was opposed to an independent Malaya with special rights for the Malays, a cause he ultimately lost. 182 pages with an index. Signed  by the author - (Straits Times Press, 2014 ISBN: 9789814342704) HB N DJ RM60
• Frank Swettenham & George Giles: Watercolours & Sketches of Malaya 1880-1894 - Lim Chong Keat & Henry Barlow
•  Glimpses of Old Penang - Neil Khor Jin Keong - This book was produced for the 30th anniversary of the Star, once a Penang newspaper, but now a national one as well. Instead of devoting itself to the newspaper's history, the book reviews the history of Penang itself from when it was established as a trading port by the British in the late eighteenth century until the early 20th century. With a wide range of old photos accompanied by informative text from some heritage heavyweights. 149 pages. - Star Publications, 2002 ISBN: 978983951212) HB VG RM500 SOLD
• Intrigue A Penang - Georges Vidal (Collection La Fouine, 1948)  PB G  RM160
• Islam in South-East Asia - MB Hooker (ed) (EJ Brill, 1983) HB VG RM200
• Made Wianta: Art and Peace - Marc Bollansee & Apinan Poshyananda (Times Editions, Singapore, 2000) HB VG DJ RM100

• Malay Courtesy - Mubin Sheppard
• Malay Traditional Attire/Pakaian Tradisi Melayu - Rosita Jaffar (FTIM Designing Centre, 2009) PB N RM60
• Memories of a Nonya - Queenie Chang (Eastern Universities Press, 1982)  PB VG RM140
• My Life in Sarawak - Margaret Brooke (Oxford University Press, 1994) PB G RM40
• Nyonya and Kerawang Embroidery Techniques/Teknik Sulaman Nyonya dan Kerawang - 
  Rosita Jaffar (FTIM Designing Centre, 2010) PB N RM60
• Penang Views, 1770-1860 - Lim Chong Keat - The purpose of this work was to catalogue the extant painting and prints of Penang from the 1770s untill the nearly a hundred years later when photography arrived. After research in Museums in Malaysia and Singapore, India Office Library in London and amongst private collections, Lim was able to assemble more than 160 paintings, prints and sketches which are now reproduced, mostly in colour, for this book. Each of the items are  annotated by the author, a noted architect and conservationist of his time. 236 pages. including a bibliography - (Summer Times, 1986 ISBN: 9789971976040) HB  VG  DJ RM330 
• Plaited Arts From the Borneo Rainforest - Bernard Sellato (ed)
• Singapore Women: Three Decades of Change - Aline Wong & Leong Wai Kim (Times Academic Press, 1994) PB VG RM120

• The Communist Insurrection in Malaya - Anthony Short
• The Cree Journals - Michael Levien (ed) (Webb & Bower, 1981) HB  NF DJ RM60
• The Hikayat Abdullah: An Annotated Translation -  Abdullah bin Abdul Khadir
  
• The Peoples of Sarawak -  Tom Harrisson (ed) (Sarawak Museum, 1959) PB  VG RM90
• The Moon at My Feet - Katherine Sim (Hodder & Stoughton, 1959) HB  VG  DJ RM150
• Ulu Tiram: A Cameo of Life at the Time of "The Emergency" - Peter & Kathleen Thomas Anne Loader, 2005) PB  F RM130
• Upper Nankin Street, Singapore: A sociological study of Chinese households living in a densely populated area - Kaye Barrington (University of Malaya Press, 1960) HB  G  EL RM130