Guide to Singapore and Spotlight on Malaya.: 12th Edition.

Singapore: Papineau Studios Advertising,, 1958. The 1958 edition of Papineau's long-running guide to Singapore and Malaya, here with the city map in splendid condition. Editions from the post-1945 golden age of mass tourism, when Singapore was developing into a modern, vibrant travel destination, are now rarely found in commerce. By far the largest section of the guide is devoted to shopping, offering information on the "bargain hunter's paradise" of Change Alley, the Olivetti typewriter showroom at Raffles Place, and the Season Trading Company renowned for "reptile-skin accessories which sell at very moderate prices" (pp. 73-74 & 83). Following a hard day's sightseeing and shopping, hungry visitors can sample the Elizabethan Grill at Raffles Hotel - "designed for the discriminating" - or the Cathay Restaurant, complete with a "bewildering list of dishes, served with all the grace and delicacy of old China" and "invariably a floor show or delightful singer to charm your cares away while you eat" (p. 65). The guide ends with a 30-page introduction to Malaya and an extensive index of Singapore's roads and streets classified by postal district. A short section discusses the ongoing Malayan "Emergency" blamed on Communist insurgents but reassures visitors that "great progress has been achieved in establishing a broad 'white belt' free of terrorists stretching across the Federation south of Perak and north of Jahore" (p. 271). Octavo. Original green pictorial card wrappers, yapp edges, spine lettered in red, title to front cover in yellow and white, final 27 leaves printed on blue paper. Large map of City of Singapore (unfolding to 661 x 860 mm) prepared by Singapore Improvement Trust (Planning Department), 2 folding maps of postal districts, illustrations and advertisements throughout. Spine vertically creased, wrappers bright, creasing and a few small tears along extremities, bumping to lower tip of first few pages, touch of foxing at foot of p. 5, else clean and bright internally, maps without stub tears. A very good copy indeed.