A little over two centuries ago, Penang became the fourth most important settlement – a presidency – of the British East India Company’s Indian territories. The fateful decision changed Penang’s future forever, reshaping …(read more)

More than 20,000 copies sold!

Streets of George Town is a serious guide to things visible and invisible. The traditional neighbourhoods and urban villages which make up the cosmopolitan city are carefully explored. In the wealth of surviving …(read more)

Which city once had the smallest service trolley-bus in the world? Where can you find the first funicular railway in Southeast Asia? How do you recognize a trolley-bus poll? Where is Tramway Road? With over 100 old photographs, maps and illustrations, …(read more)

Spanning over 200 years, this illustrated history describes the early immigration and population growth, social organisations, economic activities, political orientation, schools and education, as well as religious life of the Chinese …(read more)

Once the premier state of the Federated Malay States, Perak pioneered tin mining, rubber, roads and railways in Malaya. In the early twentieth century, Europeans and Asians venturing into this frontier country bought picture postcards …(read more)

In the early 20th century, from a bustling port teeming with travellers and migrants, thousands of postcards of Penang were sent off into the world. These picture postcards gave vivid impressions of Penang’s centre of commerce and …(read more)

Penang Through Gilded Doors is an inspirational introduction to one of Southeast Asia’s most culturally diverse destinations. Superbly photographed, the book focuses in particular on the Malaysian island’s wealth of heritage …(read more)

The transformation of Perak, Malaysia, in the late 19th century was an unlikely collaboration between the Malay Sultans, their British advisers and dynamic migrant groups, brought together by the ‘tin rush’. Mandailing migrants …(read more)

In 1979 Ooi Cheng Ghee spent a year exploring the streets of Little India, Penang with a particular way of seeing and his trusted Leica camera. It was not only a journey of discovery but a kind a conversation with the diverse community that inhabited …(read more)