Across the Equator: a Holiday Trip in Java.

REID, Thomas H.

Published by Singapore: Kelly & Walsh, Limited, 1908

First edition, first printing, of this uncommon visitor's guide to the Dutch colony, structured "to enable the visitor to follow a given route through the Island, from west to east, within the compass of a fortnight or three weeks" (preface). WorldCat records seven institutional copies. In his preface, Reid acknowledges his debt to George P. Lewis (1875-1926), "whose photographs of Tosari and the volcanic region of Eastern Java form one of the finest and most artistic collections we have seen of landscape work". Returning to Britain in 1917, Lewis "was one of only sixteen official British photographers who documented the [First World] war, which was the first major conflict to have contemporary photographic iconography" (National Galleries). In total, Lewis took 1,300 photographs in 18 months before the cessation of hostilities. Reid's guide evolved from a series of articles he published in the Straits Times in 1907. Following high demand from potential visitors, he made revisions and expansions, and rearranged the articles in the present form. Copies can be found at the National Library of Singapore, Cornell, Harvard, University of California Berkeley, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, National Library of Australia, and Leiden. National Galleries Scotland, "Profile of George P. Lewis", available online. Octavo. Original grey card wrappers, yapp edges, front cover lettered in red and blue. With half-tone photographic frontispiece, 4 similar plates, folding colour map, half-tone illustrations in text. Some plates after photographs by George P. Lewis. Wrappers and contents still fresh, several minor closed tears, a couple professionally repaired with tissue. A near-fine copy. Seller Inventory # 163923

Bibliographic Details

Title: Across the Equator: a Holiday Trip in Java.
Publisher: Singapore: Kelly & Walsh, Limited, 1908
Edition: 1st Edition