(13 May 2016) The British Library holds what is probably the most important collection in the world of early printed works from Malaysia and Singapore, from the start of printing in the region in the early 19th century, right up until the independence of Malaya in 1957 and of Singapore in 1963.
The British Library has received as a donation, copies of a rare Japanese-occupation era propaganda newspaper.
The copies of The Perak Times have been donated to the British Library by Ian Sampson, who found them amongst his family papers. His father, Geoffrey Sampson, was an engineer who had worked in Malaya for the Public Works Department (PWD). The paper is very brittle and will be digitized this year.
The full, illustrated article in the Asia and African Studies Blog is here.
