RAFFLES, Sir Thomas Stamford.

The history of Java . . . Second edition.

London, John Murray, 1830. 2 vols, 8vo (210 x 135 mm), pp. xlviii, 536; iv, 332, clxxix, [1, blank]; occasional light spotting; contemporary half-calf; spines sunned. First published in 1817. This edition was prepared for publication by Raffles’s widow, Sophia. Raffles, whose recommended invasion route was used in taking Java from the Dutch, was appointed its lieutenant-governor in 1811, when the island fell into British hands. ‘Unlike the [East India] company and the British government, Raffles regarded Java not as temporarily occupied territory but as the permanent base for extending British influence through the rest of the eastern archipelago, and he set out quickly to dismantle the Dutch system of monopoly, compulsory deliveries, and protective tariffs. Early in 1812 Raffles sent Gillespie [head of the British invasion force] to seize the tin islands of Banka and Billiton, appointed British residents at the courts of Javanese rulers, remodelled the judicial administration, introduced a jury system, and in 1813 abolished forced labour in favour of money rents in a large part of Java . . . . Travelling widely to gather information about the history, languages, and products of Java, Raffles enlisted the help and supported the researches of American botanist Thomas Horsfield, who had already spent more than ten years in Java before the British invasion. He arranged for Horsfield to send specimens to the East India Company’s museum in London and to Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, who was collecting plants for the Royal Garden at Kew and for his own herbarium’ (Oxford DNB).

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