ENCHANTED LAND

Foreign Writings About Chiang Mai in the Early 20th Century

Description

A century ago, northern Thailand (or Siam, as it was then known) was home to small communities of westerners, many of them British diplomats and foresters (like Reginald Le May and Reginald Campbell) or American missionaries (like Lucy Starling and Mary Lou O’Brien). Though few in number, they left behind a considerable written legacy. Their writing is invariably personal and often vivid, describing their hopes and aspirations, the challenges they faced in their work and daily lives, and their attachment to this “enchanted land”. This book makes a selection of that writing accessible to a wide readership, much of it for the first time. The texts are illustrated by 65 evocative photographs, many of them contemporary. Graham Jefcoate was born in England and studied English and Library Science in Cambridge and London. He has spent much of his adult life abroad, now a retired librarian living in Chiang Mai. He took an increasing interest in Thailand when he became Head of Early Printed Collections at the British Library in London in 1997, even became a member of the committee of the AngloThai Society. In recent years, he has become interested in the life of the Anglo-American community in Chiang Mai and the north of Thailand before the Pacific War and gave lectures and workshops from his research for Payap University.