The Adventures of Young James Brooke (Part 2)

Not too long ago, I ordered (from an antique books store in Australia) a book that included the letters of Rajah James Brooke to his lady friend Baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts.

It chronicles the most interesting relationship between Rajah Brooke with this lady, who actually gave significant sums of her own money in support of Rajah Brooke's cause in Sarawak. One would think we should have at least a road in Kuching named after her.

Anyway, this book will obviously take pride of place in my Sarawak history book collection. Reading these letters is interesting because it gives me amore direct impression of James Brooke's thoughts and writing style. In the history books that we were taught from in school, it was usually a third person's narrative of the Brooke story. In this book, you get a first-hand insight into the First Rajah (and even before he became Rajah).

For the rest of this posting, let me share some photos of selected pages from the book with you ...

Note the book sitting on my traditional native tablecloth

A close up of the book spine

Title pages of the book

One of the Contents pages

Part of the Introduction chapter

A part of the history e never learnt in school ... which explains much about

why Rajah James Brooke never got married

Hope you enjoyed reading about this little piece of our Sarawak history ...