The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXXXIX, Part 1-2 ... - Khamkoo

E.tduthm of flotik.•;)'rum th•• ndlt'c/UJII rJj'JIII,I •. Mmm .fum:wl 71
jusqu'eu /770. Turpin ( 1709-1799) never C3mc
to Siam. and in tact never seems w moved
outside Lhc narrow pen me te r ofCacn, where he
taught lus(ory al Lhc university, and Paris. where
he rried unsuccessfully to I ive by his pen and
where he died in penury. l-Ie ubtaincd h is
inform a1ion about Si[tr.n frum lhc Frc nc b
missionary bishop Mgr Brigo1. who was in the
country from 174 1 111 I he !'411 n f ,\ ynuhay" in
1767. -n,c bishop lcf't Pondichcry in 176'1 to
rerum 10 France; thcr~ he wrote !;Om.; note-s and
gave his rn:muscript and other missionaries·
notes and JOurnals LO the hack writer T urpm,.
who, in the words of one ernie, allowed "hjs
1m Ut c:\:Jcli ludc."' Brigot and the
directOr of the f oreign ~1iss10ns m Pans wc r~
most displeased when T ur p in·~ work Wl-lS
published findjng "'n.:prchcn-.;ib lc Lhings 1 • in it.
Turpin lhen undl':nook to eom:tl o r replace Lhc
passages which they found panicularly
objectionable. ~lowevl!r. lhis was vinua lly the
o nly \vork dt:aling ..:xclusively w ith Siam to
nppenr in 1he cenmry. and gives a first-hand
account of the f:lil of Ayutthya, wluch even the
Dutch (who bad abandoned the capital bcihrc
u; fa ll to the Bunn~sc ) ~ou l d not f11rnish.
That c.ovcrs perhaps the most iln port:mt
authors a nd lhcir v.:orkson Siam to appL'ur in this
coli eel ion. As \Vidt cvct-y collect ion. thert! a n::
gaps. some of which may be impossible to rectii)