A Visit to the Indian Archipelago, in H.M. Ship Maeander. With Portions of the Private Journal of Sir James Brooke..

A fine set of this splendid book, with eight superb plates lithographed by Hawkins after Oswald Brierley.

Henry Keppel had first served in the Malacca Straits in the early 1840s during the campaign against the Borneo pirates. During that time he formed a close friendship with Sir James Brooke, who had been appointed rajah of Sarawak in perpetuity by the sultan of Brunei. In 1847 Keppel returned to the region as captain of the frigate Maeander which was to convey Brooke to Labuan, an island off Borneo. 'At Brooke's suggestion, Labuan was ceded to Great Britain in 1846 by the Sultan of Brunei; it was made a crown colony, and Brooke was named governor. Keppel's book treats of the voyage to Labuan, incidents there, piracy in the South China Sea, and gives a description of Manila' (Hill).

On the homeward journey the Maeander called in at Port Essington, Cape York, Sydney, Hobart and Norfolk Island. Keppel's accounts of these ports-of-call are both entertaining and readable. He reports at length on the work of Captain Owen Stanley of the Rattlesnake - who died in Sydney whilst Keppel was on an inland tour with Governor FitzRoy. By coincidence the fine plates which illustrate Keppel's account are by the distinguished marine artist Oswald Brierley, who joined the Maeander after having served as artist on board the Rattlesnake.

In an uncharacteristic slip by Ferguson he did not record Keppel's book despite its considerable Australian importance, while Abbey's description of an earlier 1852 edition was in error.