Raffles' Ark Redrawn: Natural History Drawings from the Collection of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles

London: The British Library & Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh, 2012. The covers are a touch edge worn. Spine a bottom edge of the covers slightly faded. 2012 reprint of the 2009 edition. An illustrated catalogue of the 123 colourful natural history drawings of the Raffles Family Collection, acquired by the British Library in 2007. In February 1824 Sir Stamford Raffles and his wife Sophia set sail for Britain on the Fame, with the collections made during his six years on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. These included two to three thousand drawings, priceless Malay manuscripts and living animals including a tiger specially tamed for the voyage - a 'veritable Noah's Ark.' Tragically the ship caught fire with the loss of all the collections. During the ten weeks until the next boat sailed a Chinese and a French artist managed to replace about 80 of the drawings that, with earlier drawings, including some made on the Malaysian island of Penang for the East India Company surgeon William Hunter, form the core of the collection.. Paperback. Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.