Expanded Bicentennial Edition

Ever since the days when tigers stalked the land and pirates roamed the southern seas, travellers from far and wide have been drawn to Singapore, the melting-pot of the east. Merchants and missionaries, princes and policemen, sailors, soldiers, adventurers and tourists — all came to see the island for themselves. In this new expanded Bicentennial edition of Travellers’ Tales, more than 80 visitors from the past provide readers of today with authentic portraits of old singapore. These vivid first-hand accounts — in letters, diaries and memoirs — bring the past fully alive, from the founding of Singapore in 1819 to the Japanese surrender. First published in 1985, this classic is bound to entertain and inform a whole new generation of readers.

The compiler, Michael Wise, was born in London and educated at Oxford University. He worked in Asia and Singapore for many years and contributed articles to The Straits Times, Singapore’s leading newspaper. He maintains a lifelong interest in writing, travel and things of the past.