EXPEDITION TO BORNEO OF H.M.S. DIDO FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF PIRACY: with extracts from the Journals of James Brooke, Esq. of Sarawak (now agent for the British Government in Borneo)

This well-illustrated two-volume work will capture the attention of anyone with an interest in the British Empire at its height in the mid 19th century, and particularly those who want to know more about one of its least-known far-flung corners – Borneo and Sarawak in today’s Indonesia – and one of its best-known imperialists, James ‘Rajah’ Brooke of Sarawak, whose journals this book includes. Its author, Captain Keppel, commanding H.M.S. Dido, came from a well-known family – ( Edward VII’s mistress Mrs Alice Keppel and Camilla Parker-Bowles are descendants) – and was charged with suppressing the native pirates who were damaging the expanding British trade among the scattered islands in the region. Keppel’s accounts of his dangerous journeys and voyages among the fierce Dyak tribes of head-hunters, and the no-less hostile terrain, make for an enthralling read. A combination of exploration and military history in the Empire’s heroic age that cannot fail to fascinate.