St John’s ‘Well-Written and Beautifully Illustrated’ Account of Borneo
ST JOHN, Spenser Buckingham.
Life in the Forests of the Far East. London, Smith, Elder and Co., 1862.
2 vols, 8vo, pp. [4], [vii]-xix, [3], 400; xviii, [2], 420; tinted lithographic frontispieces, 10 tinted lithographic plates by G. McCulloch, T. Picken, and F. Jones, 4 hand-coloured lithographic plates of pitcher plants, heightened with gum Arabic, and 3 folding lithographic maps, all printed by Day and Son, some plates retaining tissue guards; bound without the publisher’s advertisements found in some sets, some light spotting or offsetting, folding maps with neatly-repaired tears, inscriptions excised from titles and missing sections skilfully repaired; contemporary half dark green calf over marbled boards, spines gilt in compartments, contrasting gilt morocco lettering-pieces in 2, green endpapers, all edges marbled; front board of vol. 1 detached, extremities a little rubbed and bumped, otherwise a very good set; provenance: some late 19th-century pencilled notes, corrections and markings – William H. Bartlett, Vermejo Park, New Mexico (1850-1918, early 20th-century bookplates on upper pastedowns) – Oliver Patrick III (20th-century red ink stamps on pastedowns and in the text, one touching image of plate V in vol. I).
First edition. A richly illustrated account of pioneering expeditions on the island of Borneo, by St John (1825-1910), who had been introduced to Sir James Brooke (the ‘White Raja’) in 1847, when Brooke was visiting England. St John ‘was quickly caught by Brooke’s charm and accompanied him as private secretary the next year, when Brooke became British commissioner and governor of Labuan ... Thenceforth St John and Brooke were closely associated, though St John’s role was usually to tone down Brooke’s extravagances. St John had a Malay mistress, Dayang Kamariah, and they had three children; the local Anglican bishop and others protested about his “immorality”. St John was with Brooke during his final operations in 1849 against Malay pirates, and he accompanied Brooke to Brunei, the Sulu archipelago, and to Siam in 1850 ... St John acted temporarily as commissioner for Brooke (1851–5), and visited the north-western coast of Borneo and the north-eastern shore, ascending the principal rivers. Appointed in 1856 British consul-general at Brunei, he explored the country round the capital, and went further into the interior than any previous traveller. His habit of wearing native dress resulted in complaints to London ... He published his full and accurate journals, supplemented by other visitors’ testimonies, in two well-written and beautifully illustrated volumes entitled Life in the Forests of the Far East’ (ODNB).
BM(NH) IV, p. 1783.