The English Governess at the Siamese Court

First published in 1870, this memoir recounts Anna Leonowens's years in Bangkok as teacher to the wives and children of King Mongkut of Siam. She describes the walled palace, the royal harem, court ceremony, and her attempts to teach English and a Western curriculum inside a Buddhist monarchy that is also negotiating with European powers. Portraits of the king, of favored consorts, and of particular pupils sit beside scenes of punishment, slavery, and diplomacy. The book is a first-person court memoir, not a political history of Siam written from the throne.

Bound in orange cloth with a paper front label. Cream endpapers. Pale grey slipcase. Yellow page tops.