Title & Author:

Descriptions of old Siam / compiled and introduced by Michael Smithies.

Publication:

Kuala Lumpur ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1995.

Description:

xvii, 302 pages : illustrations, map ; 19 cm.

Series:

Oxford in Asia paperbacks

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references.
Introduction / Michael Smithies -- The Earliest Accounts (Sixteenth Century). 1. Ordering the Waters to Go Down / Diogo Do Couto. 2. The Extent, Wealth, and Organization of the Kingdom / Fernao Mendez Pinto. 3. The Monarch and His Elephants / Jacques De Coutre -- The Dutch Traders (Early Seventeenth Century). 4. A Land of Plenty, Magnificence, and Charity / Cornelis Van Neijenrode. 5. Impressions of the Country / Joost Schouten. 6. The Character of the Reigning Monarch, Prasart Thong / Jeremias Van Vliet. 7. The Dutch 'Factory' at Ayutthaya / Gijsbert Heeck -- The French Offensive (1662-1688). 8. Religious Tolerance / Jacques De Bourges. 9. Men's Clothes and Women's Ornaments / Nicolas Gervaise. 10. The Ambassador's Arrival and Sundry Observations / Chevalier De Chaumont. 11. The Audience of Reception and the Palace of King Narai / Abbe De Choisy. 12. Wat Phra Ram, Ayutthaya / Guy Tachard. 13. Travelling Overland from Bangkok to Mergui / Claude Ceberet Du Boullay. 14. The King's Incidental Revenues and the Women of the Palace / Simon De La Loubere. 15. Reception in the Palace at Lophuri and Phaulkon's Chapel / Guy Tachard. 16. The Death of King Narai / Father De Beze. 17. An Account of Siam Presented to Louis XIV / Chevalier Claude De Forbin -- Other Viewpoints, Other Times (Late Seventeenth to Late Eighteenth Century). 18. Persian Views of Siam / Ibn Muhammad Ibrahim. 19. Reception of the Phra Klang and Ayutthaya and Its Surroundings / Engelbert Kaempfer.
20. The Harbours of Phuket / Alexander Hamilton. 21. A Royal Reception of Spaniards from the Philippines / Anon. 22. Phuket in 1784 / Thomas Forrest. 23. The Fall of Ayutthaya to the Burmese / Francois-Henri Turpin. 24. The Missionaries and King Taksin / Father Conde -- Early Contacts with the Bangkok Dynasty (1824-1851). 25. Siamese Amusements / James Low. 26. White Elephants and Wat Phra Keo / George Finlayson. 27. Visiting Bangkok / John Crawfurd. 28. An Audience with Rama III / Henry Burney. 29. The Top-knot Cutting Ceremony / Father Bruguiere. 30. Personages at Court / Charles Gutzlaff. 31. The Funeral Pyre of the Late Second King / Edmund Roberts. 32. Chantaburi and a Fire in the Capital / Frederick Arthur Neale. 33. Smallpox and Lying by the Fire / Dan Beach Bradley. 34. Ayutthaya, Lopburi, and Phra Phutthabat / Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix -- King Mongkut and His Land (1851-1868). 35. Private Audiences with the King / John Bowring. 36. In Procession with a White Elephant and Travelling through the North-East / Henri Mouhot. 37. Meeting King Mongkut and the First Day of Teaching / Anna Leonowens. 38. Photographing the King and Visiting a Bangkok Prison / John Thomson. 39. The River at Bangkok and a Farewell Visit to King Mongkut and His Wives / Marquis De Beauvoir -- Travellers and Resident in King Chulalongkorn's Reign (1868-1910). 40. New Roads in the Capital and an Old Road to Prachinburi / Frank Vincent. 41. Petchburi Seen by a Resident / Mary Lovina Cort.
42. The Lao of Chiangmai and Chiangrai / Carl Bock. 43. After Dinner with the King and Post-cremation Diversions / Florence Caddy. 44. Muang Nan Uttaradit in 1887 / George Younghusband. 45. Spirit Possession among Northerners / Cheek. 46. Ministries and Ministers / Henry Norman. 47. Wat Saket, the 'Burning Ghat of Bangkok' / Maxwell Sommerville. 48. Nakorn Srithammaraj and the Korat Plateau / H. Warington Smyth. 49. Rice Planting and Rice Harvesting Ceremonies / Ernest Young. 50. A Surveyor in Songkhla and Chiangsaen / James McCarthy. 51. Drainage, Latrines, and Pawnshops / A. Cecil Carter. 52. Religion and Death / Oscar Frankfurter. 53. Practical Aspects of Rice Cultivation / W.A. Graham. 54. A Public Execution / P.A. Thompson. 55. Kampengpetch and Srisachanalai in 1904 / E. Lunet De Lajonquiere -- Into the Twentieth Century (1910 to the Present). 56. Travelling to Chiangmai in 1913 / Reginald Le May. 57. Bang Pa-in and Queen Saowapa / Malcolm Smith. 58. A View from the Golden Mount in 1928 / Erik Seidenfaden. 59. Amusements Old and New / W.A.R. Wood. 60. The Floating Market / James Kirkup.

Summary:

Siam, known from 1939 to 1945 and since 1948 as Thailand, was first written about by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, by the Dutch and the French in the seventeenth, and by numerous visitors of all nationalities from the middle of the nineteenth century, when, under the influence, first of King Mongkut, and then his son and successor, King Chulalongkorn, the country opened up and residents and visitors became more common. The accounts of these early diplomats, merchants, missionaries, and plain tourists make fascinating reading and allow the modern reader to see both the continuities and changes in the country renowned for its exoticism. Michael Smithies has selected generously from these accounts in order to give a picture of the country as a whole, not just its capital, at first Ayutthaya, then Bangkok, where the kings held sway, but also the different regions of the country: the south, the north, and the north-east. For the contemporary visitor in search of earlier impressions, this volume will be revealing and instructive, and will complement the standard travel guide in an unusual, informative, and often amusing way.

Resources:
Publisher description

ISBN:

9676530832 (paper)
9789676530837 (paper)

Subject:

74.21 geography of Asia.
Thailand.
Thailand Social life and customs.
Thailand History.

Form/genre:

Travel books (form)

Added entries:

Smithies, Michael, 1932-
Oxford in Asia paperbacks.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 191534
Call No.: ID DS561.5.D47; ID:97-B2488
Status: Available