Rees, W. A. Van
De Bandjermasinsche Krijg van 1859-1863. Nader toegelicht.
Arnhem, D. A. Thieme, 1867. 8vo (21.9 x 13.5 cm). Very large, triple-folded chromolithographed plate (as frontispiece); engraved, folded map; and very large, quadruple-folded engraved plate of a Kotta Mara (wooden warship), Title page, 139 pp. Contemporary pebbled half cloth over marbled boards. Spine with gilt bands and number.
A very rare work on the war between the Dutch and the people of Bandjermasin in southern Borneo (Kalimantan), who fiercely resisted the Dutch imperialists. The roots of the conflict, however, were both religious and the result of a struggle for power between two heirs of the local Sultan. The illustrations show a Kotta Mara, or floating panzer, used by the Bandjermasin. This work elaborates on an earlier (1865) published work, by the same author, and - partly - deals with comments on the first work. Willem Adriaan Van Rees (1820-1898) was a Lieutenant - later Captain and Major - in the Dutch East Indian army, perhaps best-known for his autobiography, ' Herinneringen uit de loopbaan van een Indisch officier' or recollections of a career of an Indian officer (1862). The artist, Carel Christiaan Antony Last (1808-1876) "...made many Indonesian subject drawings and lithographs for plates and plate books of the middle 19th century" (Haks and Maris). Stamp of a military library in the top margin of the title page, short tear near the adhesion point of the second plate; some scattered, mostly mild foxing, otherwise a very good copy. Haks and Maris Lexicon, p. 164; Apparently overlooked by Landwehr, as he mentions only the main work (Landwehr, 399).