This page lists the more than 100 Malay and Bugis rare books and manuscripts that are part of the Southeast Asian Rare Book Collection, as well as ephemera, and a collection of forty-six nineteenth-century letters in Jawi script, mainly from Malay kings and notables to William Farquhar, the first British Resident of Singapore, viewable online and with an accompanying guide. Many of these items were acquired by the American missionary, Alfred North, for the Wilkes Expedition (1838-1842) and were amongst the first Asian books and manuscripts at the Library of Congress. 

The list of Malay rare books is broken up into "Malay rare books" and "Malay Christian rare books." The latter is a subset of the former, and has been compiled to highlight items used for Christian missionary activity. The term "manuscript" on this page refers to items that are handwritten. "Book" refers to printed material that is bound in book form.

The following resources provide further detail on several of the Malay and Bugis items listed.

• A. Kohar Rony. "Malay Manuscripts and Early Printed Books at the Library of Congress." Indonesia, No. 52 (Oct., 1991), pp. 123-134.
   
• Asma Ahmat. Katalog Manuskrip Melayu di Library of Kongres, U.S.A. Kuala Lumpur: Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia, 1993.
   
• Kueh, Joshua. "Malay and Bugis Manuscripts and Early Printed Books at the Library of Congress: An Update." Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 93, Pt. 2, Number 319 (December 2020), pp. 45-64.
   
• Tol, Roger. "The Production of the Bugis and Malay Manuscripts in The Library of Congress." Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 93, Pt. 2, Number 319 (December 2020), pp. 11-31.
   
• Tol, Roger. "Pengembaraan La Galigo ke Washington D.C.: memperkenalkan Husin bin Ismail." Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 93, Pt. 2, Number 319 (December 2020), pp. 65-72.