SCOTT MERRILLEES
BATAV I A
IN
NINETEENTH CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHS
S
C O T T M E R R I L L E E S (1962) graduated in economics and commerce from the University of Melbourne, where
BATAV I A IN
NINETEENTH CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHS
His interest in early photographs and picture postcards as a means of discovering the 19th century topography of major cities dates back to his teenage years growing up in Melbourne. He is married to Theresia and has two children, Maxi and Nicole.
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NINETEENTH CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHS
visitor to modern Jakarta (or Batavia as it was known from 1619-1945) will find very few reminders of the
city’s past nor clues as to how the bustling home of more than
buildings and landmarks remain and it is difficult to imagine what Jakarta would have looked like a century or more ago. It was a desire to step back into Jakarta’s history that prompted Scott Merrillees to begin collecting and researching 19th century photographs of Batavia in the early 1990s. Eventually going beyond just his own collection, he also sought out important institutional and private collections around
Batavia in Nineteenth Century Photographs provides the most comprehensive photographic record ever published of Jakarta from the late 1850s when the earliest known photographs of the city were taken through to the closing years of the 19th century. One hundred and fifty-five rare photographs from leading institutional and private collections in Europe and Australia are brought together here for the first time. Extensively researched and reproduced in their original sepia tonings, many of these images have never before been published. With an emphasis on the topographic and architectural landscape
SCOTT MERRILLEES
commercial banking, stockbroking and equity research.
IN
nine million people grew into what it is today. Not many old
he also completed a major in Indonesian studies. He has worked in Australia, Japan and Indonesia in accounting,
BATAV I A
the world. The photographs were his personal time machine transporting him back to an almost vanished past of a truly fascinating city. Finding the photographs was only the first challenge. It was also necessary to identify the precise location from where each image was taken and then research the buildings, monuments, commercial firms, organisations and infrastructure that appear in them so as to be able to “step into” each scene.
of the city, the author’s aim is to transport the reader back to the Jakarta
This labour of love for a private collector is now brought
of an earlier age that is little understood and has largely vanished and
to a wider audience through Batavia in Nineteenth Century
bring it back to life through the window of early photography.
Photographs. It is the most extensive survey yet published of the topography of 19th century Batavia as revealed through the earliest decades of photography. The reader is invited to share this time machine journey and discover some of the little
Printed in Singapore
Batavia jkt reprint 2010_.indd 1
known past of one of Asia’s major cities.
2nd Proof
Title:
Job No:
EDM:Batavia_JKT CD0610-102 / 4272
6/25/10 3:12:41 PM