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1. As I recall, my father left his wife and three children no legacy
except a collection of books and other printed matter. When he died in 1956
there were only a few ringgit in his
savings account. He left no other possessions apart from his personal
belongings and the books.
2. Although he was born into the wealthy Noordin family, accounts had shown that he was his own man.
He reportedly pursued his own career instead of relying on the family estate. He
started his working life as a teacher at his old School and reportedly took to teaching because
he liked it. In the course of time he decided to come over from George Town to
work under the Government of Kedah. Subsequently, he drifted apart from the
Noordin clan.
3. As a young boy, the collection of books, journals, periodicals and
government gazettes gave me the impression that my father was a learned person.
He might have acquired most of the books well before my siblings and I were
born, probably in the 20s and 30s. The collection included several fat volumes of
law books including the Laws of Kedah
compiled by G. B. Kellagher,
a complete set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, volumes of The Great War, numerous volumes of the Journal of the Malayan Branch Royal Asiatic
Society and numerous titles of fictions and non-fictions. The law books were mementos of his
time working as Assistant Legal Adviser in the KCS and as Legal Adviser and
Public Prosecutor during the Japanese Occupation.
4. The fictions included a number
of volumes by Charles Dickens and numerous paperback and hardcover volumes by
Agatha Christie and other authors. There was an impressive collection of
non-fictions as well; two of which that I remember very well were On the Origin of Species by Charles
Darwin and Relativity: The Special and the
General Theory by Albert Einstein, both of which I didn’t bother to read.
5. I was
fascinated by the Britannica and The Great War since I was five or six
years old. At that age I delighted looking at the colour plates of famous
masters in the Britannica. As far as
I can remember, it was the 14th edition consisting of 24 volumes. The Great War, consisting of 13 volumes, was heavily
illustrated with grim pictures of World War I. It was in one of the book that I
saw a picture of a zeppelin for the first time.
6. I’m ashamed to admit that I had not been very kind to the
valuable collection. Presently, there is only a meagre part of the collection
left in my possession. Much of the collection had either been discarded for one
reason or another or lost indefinitely. Many lost items were those lent to
friends who didn’t care to return them.
7. The first to perish were numerous copies of the Government of
Kedah Gazette comprising of loose sheets of printed papers. They had not been
cared for ever since I was in primary school and by the time I was in my teens
there was no more gazettes on the shelves.
8. Whatever happened to the law books remains a mystery. I can’t
seem to recall when or how those fat books went missing from the shelf. They
might have been discarded by reason of irrelevancy or given away to someone
without my knowing it.
9. During my mid-20s most of the books might well have entered their
fourth decade of existence. It was unfortunate that I had overlooked the proper
care of the collection inasmuch as the condition of the books and journals
subsequently deteriorated after years of neglect. Tiny bugs had caused damage
to the collection. Silverfish burrowed numerous tiny holes into the Britannicas. Cockroaches delighted in
gnawing the edges of books and journals that became badly disfigured over time.
10. As it
happened, I moved house a number of times during my working life and that made
matters worse. Moving house was burdensome and inclined me to think twice about
my commitment to care for the collection of decaying and probably outdated
books and journals. At that time I thought the Internet rules supreme in the
world of information. The thought prevailed at the expense of the decaying
books. I still remember discarding the entire volumes of the Britannica and The Great War into a large garbage container by the side of the
road nearby several years ago. How could I ever forgive myself for such act of
folly?
11. At the
present time there are only a few books and journals left in my possession. I
have listed them so as to cherish and care for what were left of the collection
(see below).
Novels
The
Old Curiosity Shop (1848) by Charles Dickens
Barnaby
Rudge (1911) by Charles Dickens
David
Copperfield (1920) by Charles Dickens
Great
Expectations & Hard Times (1920) by Charles
Dickens
The
Rescue (1920) by Joseph Conrad
Life
and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (1922) by
Charles Dickens
They
Do It With Mirrors (1952) by Agatha Christie
After
the Funeral (1953) by Agatha Christie
Ring
for Jeeves (1953) by P. G. Wodehouse
Sundry
Creditors (1953) by Nigel Balchin
Non-fictions
Principles
of Political Economy (c 1912) by Charles Gide
(Translated by C. William A. Veditz)
The
Economic Consequences of the Peace (1920) by John
Maynard Keynes
England
in Egypt (1920) by Viscount Milner
The
General Staff and its Problems (c 1920) by General
Ludendorff (Translated by F. A. Holt)
Speeches
And Toasts (c 1920) Ward, Lock & Co., Limited
Relativity:
The Special & the General Theory (1921) by
Albert Einstein (Translated by Robert W. Lawson)
Journal
of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
Volume 8 Part 1, April 1930 (MBRAS)
Volume 8 Part 2, December 1930 (MBRAS)
Volume 20 Part 2, December 1947 (MBRAS)
Volume 22 Part 2, May 1949 (MBRAS)
Volume 22 Part 3, June 1949 (MBRAS)
Volume 23 Part 2, March 1950 (MBRAS)
Volume 24 Part 1, February 1951 (MBRAS)
Volume 24 Part 2, July 1951 (MBRAS)
Volume 25 Part 1, August 1952 (MBRAS)
Volume 25 Part 4 & 5, December 1952
(MBRAS)
Volume 26 Part 1, July 1953 (MBRAS)
Volume 27 Part 1, May 1954 (MBRAS)
Volume 27 Part 4, November 1954 (MBRAS)
Volume 28 Part 2, May 1955 (MBRAS)
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