Perak Postcards
1890s-1940s

Abdur-Razzaq Lubis,
Malcolm Wade &
Khoo Salma Nasution
Price RM120
2010, Areca Books
Hardcover, 25.8cm x 28.6 cm,
336 pages
575 postcards including a few stationeries and real photos
Index included
ISBN 978-967-5719-01-1

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Reviews & Press

Mop books
21 Febuary 2011
by Ilsa Sharp

Ipoh Echo, Issue 112, 6 January, 2011,
by Ian Anderson

Going Places,
November 2010

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Perak Postcards 1890s-1940s

'This is a beautifully produced book, with many postcards never seen before. If you want a first-class record of Perak's past then this is where you should invest your money. It beats any other volume produced so far' - IpohWorld

'One of the glories of this book is that the authors' expertise is brought to bear on every image, each one carefully sourced, dated and historically interpreted. It’s ... like a rolling story that you can dip in and out of at your leisure' - Ilsa Sharp

'The book leaves no doubt in anyone's mind that at one time Perak really did have an amazing array of heritage buildings, streets, public gardens, recreation areas and a wide array of grand landscapes. Anyone who buys this book will therefore have no need for faded memories as it covers all that any could wish for regarding our heritage' - Ian Anderson, *Ipoh
Echo*

'A lovely volume ... offering all sorts of historical byways which will be mined for years to come.... a real contribution to Perak history (as well as of course philatelic and postal history)' - Geoff Wade

Dr Geoff Wade is an historian with interests in Sino-Southeast Asian historical interactions and comparative historiography, based at the Institute of South East Asian Studies, Singapore.

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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 to send home to family, friends and pen pals all over the world. Perak Postcards 1890s–1940s represents the largest such collection ever assembled into one volume, with more than 500 picture postcards contributed by several collectors. Practically all the major Perak districts and towns are featured – Ipoh, Taiping, Kuala Kangsar, Telok Anson and the mining towns of Kinta.

Malcolm Wade, a stalwart of the Malaya Study Group, has written an authoritative postal history of Perak. Abdur-Razzaq Lubis and Khoo Salma Nasution, authors of the critically acclaimed Kinta Valley, Pioneering Malaysia’s Modern Development (2005) have extensively captioned the images – using contemporary sources, travelogues and memoirs to illustrate these vivid windows to the past.

Contents

Perak, The Abode of Grace 7

Introduction: The Postal History of Perak 8

The Perak Post 18

Taiping 25

Kuala Kangsar 77

Ipoh 125

Kinta Towns 237

Batang Padang and Tanjung Malim 251

Hilir Perak, Dindings and Pangkor 265

Krian and Upper Perak 277

Tin Mining 281

Rubber 301

Orang Asli 305

The Mandailing Postcard Collection 317

Appendices 324