GILHODES, A.
ii + 304pp, Head & tail pieces to chapter headings, original wrappers with yap edges chipped & worn with loss, text block age-toned, still a good copy of the first edition. 20 x 13cm The foreword states: "In the North and North-East of Burma are found the savage tribes, which the Burmese and after them the English call "Kachins" The Kachins, comprise five principal tribes: the Marips, The Lathongs, the Laphais, the Nkhums and the Msrans." First published in 1922 this first edition is a record of the myths and tales of the Kachin peoples of Burma amongst whom the author lived. Chapters cover folklore, mythology and religion, culture, birth and childhood, marriage, death and obsequies, and diseases and their remedies.
MORRISON, ALASTAIR.
Black and white photographic illustrations, viii + 270pp, a very good paperback copy. Alastair Morrison, son of Morrison of Peking, husband of photographer Hedda Morrison and brother of The Times war correspondent Ian Morrison, gives an engaging account of his travels through Britain, Scandinavia, Iceland, Europe, South America and Asia, in search of bird specimens for the British Museum and live birds for the London Zoo. Along the way he also collects a rich store of ancecdotes about the remarkable range of people he encounters, from the small to the great - including the poet W.H. Auden, who published a photograph of Morrison in a book that he later wrote about Iceland. A private edition of this book was first published in 1993.
RICKLEFS, MERLE.
Maps, black and white and colour photographic illustrations, xxi + 576 pages, index, bibliography, glossary, appendix, paperback, very good. Winner of the 2015 Kahin Prize awarded by the Asian Studies Association of America. The Javanese - one of the largest ethnic groups in the Islamic world - were once mostly 'nominal Muslims', with pious believers a minority and the majority seemingly resistant to Islam's call for greater piety. Over the tumultuous period analyzed here - from colonial ruler through Japanese occupation and Revolution to the chaotic democracy of the Sukarno period, the Soeharto regime's aspirant totalitarianism and the democratic period since - that society has changed profoundly to become an extraordinary example of the rising religiosity that marks the modern age. Islamisation and Its Opponents in Java draws on a formidable body of sources, including interviews, archival documents and a vast range of published material, to situate the Javanese religious experience from the 1930s to the present day in its local political, social, cultural and religious settings. The concluding part of the author's monumental three-volume series assessing more than six centuries of the on-going Islamisation of Javanese, the study has considerable relevance for much wider contexts. Beliefs, or disbeliefs, about the supernatural are important in all societies, and the final section of the book, which considers the significance of Java's religious history in global contexts, shows how it exemplifies a profound contest of values in the universal human search for a better life.
NYK [NIPPON YUSEN KAISHA]; SWEENEY, DAN C. [ILLUSTRATOR]
Saddle-stitched booklet, 23 x 15 cm, [32 pages],15 full-page colour illustrations highlighted with gum arabic, illustrated wrappers, frontispiece of a globe showing the northern hemisphere, opening and closing vignettes of the San Francisco and New York skylines, the back wrapper with NYK's principal passenger routes and branch offices, very slight edgewear, toning to the text leaves, the staples a little rusted (but sound), in very good, remarkably bright, condition. Highly appealing advertising brochure for the Japanese NYK shipping line for 1938. The vivid, stylised signed illustrations are by the US born Dan C. Sweeney (1880-1958) who by the time of this production was a well-seasoned commercial artist producing travel posters, labels and advertising material for leading hotels and the leisure market. His work is highly collectible and this is a particularly attractive example in a generous format. The illustrations and travelogue exhorting travellers to buy and where to buy ("It is what one brings back from ones travels that makes them worth while.") open with Honolulu and show destinations in Asia (concluding in Europe) and vendors displaying wares often to stylish and well-dressed travellers: Yokohama, Kyoto, Tyosen (Korea), Peking, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Calcutta, Colombo, Cairo, Naples, Marseilles, London. This was niche advertising to a prestige market for the expanding NYK shipping line.
Map, xvii + 316pp, notes, bibliography, index, paperback. Very good copy signed by the author. The indigenous people of Southern Vietnam, known as the Khmer Krom, occupy territory over which Vietnam and Cambodia have competing claims. Regarded with ambivalence and suspicion by nationalists in both countries, these in-between people have their own claims on the place where they live and a unique perspective on history and sovereignty in their heavily contested homelands. To cope with wars, environmental re-engineering and nation-building, the Khmer Krom have selectively engaged with the outside world in addition to drawing upon local resources and self-help networks. This groundbreaking book reveals the sophisticated ecological repertoire deployed by the Khmer Krom to deal with a complex river delta, and charts their diverse adaptations to a changing environment. In addition, it provides an ethnographically grounded exposition of Khmer mythic thought that shows how the Khmer Krom position themselves within a landscape imbued with life-sustaining potential, magical sovereign power and cosmological significance. Offering a new environmental history of the Mekong River delta this book is the first to explore Southern Vietnam through the eyes of its indigenous Khmer residents.
