About the book:
A short overview of Malaya, illustrated with black and white plates, with the first edition title being Malaya: Outline of a Colony.
About the author (from Wikipedia):
Victor Purcell (26 January 1896 – 2 January 1965) was a British colonial public servant, historian, poet and Sinologist in Malaya (now Malaysia).
After World War I, Purcell pursued his undergraduate study in Cambridge University, studying history at Trinity College.
During his service in Malaya he dealt in particular with the role of the local minority Chinese and published on this subject some significant works.
In 1926 he spent seven months as District Officer on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean, with wide-ranging but largely undemanding responsibilities in that remote mining community (Magistrate, Assistant District Judge, Port Officer, Port Health Officer, Postal Agent, Assistant Protector of the Chinese plus others).
From 1949 he was a lecturer in Far Eastern History at Cambridge University.
In 1978 he was honoured by a postage stamp of Christmas Island.