Monumental Java – J F Scheltema (1912) (1st ed)

S$190.00

Monumental Java – J F Scheltema (1912) (1st ed)

S$190.00

Title: Monumental Java

Author: J F Scheltema

Publisher: Macmillan & Co, London, 1912. First edition.

Condition: Hardcover, cloth. Good. Slight rubbing to covers, especially to the edges of spine. Slight fading to spine, and slight tanning to pages. Overall very clean, binding tight but sagging slightly. With black-and-white photographic plates.

The author has presented us with a very interesting and readable treatise on the numerous archeological remains in the island of Java. Since everyone looks at a subject from his own point of view, and since it is very evident that Scheltema is not only an archaeologist but a poet—a combination, be it said, of great value to the world—he has allowed himself considerable latitude in dealing with the romance of the island’s history, and in depicting the extreme beauty of its scenery and surroundings. Every page teems with vivid word-painting, and much of the description reads as if it were poetry translated into prose.

Mr. Scheltema is to be congratulated for having produced a remarkably interesting book, and one illustrated with exceptionally good reproductions from photographs. His vignette headings to chapters, also, are useful and instructive, being examples of Javanese chandi ornament and conventional treatment of scenery, mountains, trees.

– from a review: The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (July, 1913) by R. Sewell

Contents:

CHAPTER I PAGE
The Country, the People and their Work
CHAPTER II
West Java
CHAPTER III
The Diëng
CHAPTER IV
Prambanan
CHAPTER V
More of Central Java
CHAPTER VI
East Java
CHAPTER VII
Buddhist Java
CHAPTER VIII
The Approach to the Boro Budoor
CHAPTER IX
The Stones of the Boro Budoor
CHAPTER X
The Soul of the Boro Budoor
BIBLIOGRAPHY
GLOSSARY
INDEX