This month at the National Library of Australia’s Asian Collections we have put together a display of Thai ephemera: late 19th and early 20th century advertisements and cigarette cards. The images of advertisements we display are reproduced from the books by Anake Nawikamune; the cigarette cards are originals which we acquired recently.
Anake Nawigamune was born in Songkhla province South of Thailand in 1953. He is known as a collector of ephemera in Thailand, and founder of บ้านพิพิธภัณฑ์ or House of Museums. NLA’s collection includes over 100 books by Anake. His books are organised thematically and provide useful history, background and bibliography for ephemeral items. This type of publication makes a significant contribution to documenting society, and items we have on display give a unique view of Thai society in the decades leading up to the Second World War.
There are many images that we would like to share with New Mandala readers, so we will run a series of features over several weeks. Any comments on the content of the images (or the captions we have provided) will be most appreciated.
This is the first ad to appear in a Thai language newspaper, the Bangkok Recorder (1845). It announces the availability of Quinine being marketed by Rev. Dan Beach Bradley
You even can take Bengal Quince powered drink mix to the temple for the monks (1928)
Ya Sasithon Osot cures venereal diseases! (1924)
[This post is provided by the National Library of Australia as part of our Book Zone feature. For further information on the featured publications contact Saowapha Viravong at sviravong@nla.gov.au]
4 responses so far ↓
1 Andy // Jul 8, 2009 at 7:29 am
It is sad that (to my knowledge) none of the books of Ananke was ever translated into English, to make his plethora of writing accessible to those not able to read Thai yet. Though it won’t be that many, I still believe there should be a lot of people who’d love to have this part of cultural history unlocked.
2 Saowapha // Jul 8, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Thanks Andy, yes I think you are right about English version of Anake’s works. There are more interesing images of advertisments to come in the next several weeks.
3 Andy // Jul 9, 2009 at 3:05 am
Have to correct myself – one book is available in English, i.e. A Century of Thai Graphic Design published by River Books. But still almost nothing compared with the more than 100 books he wrote in Thai.
4 More Thai ephemera // Jul 17, 2009 at 1:39 pm
[...] Here we present three more images from the current National Libary of Australia Asian Collections Thai Ephemera display. [...]
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