Alexander Hamilton's classic text, A New account of the East Indies, has only been published three time it first appeared in 1727; it's length and breadth (it covers everywhere from the Red Sea to Japan ) have precluded more editions,and the most recent,the Argonaut Press limited 1930 edition, is unobtainable.
Yet as a source of information on the region it is invaluble,and is enlivened and geograpical background. Hamilton was a born raconteur and, among other things, one the very few persons to come to Siam in the eighteenth century and leave an account of his stay.
Michael Smithies has taken the fourteen chapter coveritng Southeast Asia from Hamilton's text and leave an introduction and explanatory footnotes to the selection, the spelling of wich has been modrenized.
This new editon of a frequently cited but rarely seen text also comes with contemporary illustrations.
1. The Kingdoms of Pegu and Burma
2. The clergy and customs of Pegu
3. Siamese Mergui, Tenasserim and Phuket; Kedah and Perak
4. Malacca
5. Johor and its palace upheavals
6. The Kingdom of Aceh
7. West Sumatra
8. East Sumatra
9. Java and the eastern islands
10. Borneo
,etc.