English: A copy of the Hikayat Abdullah (1843) by Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir (Munshi Abdullah, 1796–1854) written in Malay in the Jawi script, from the Jawi Manuscript Collection, Asian Division, Library of Congress. When the United States Exploring Expedition led by Charles Wilkes was in Singapore in 1842, Wilkes asked a missionary named Alfred North to send him a copy of Abdullah's autobiography to him in the United States. The work was completed in 1843, and eventually found its way into the Smithsonian Institution. In 1865, the Smithsonian transferred the manuscript to the Library of Congress, where it became one of the first Asian books to enter its collections. See White whales and Bugis books. Asian Collections: Library of Congress: An Illustrated Guide, Library of Congress (1 November 2005). Retrieved on 2008-11-18.