Binding: Concertina- or accordion-style binding, both covers intact. Covers with squares of gold leaf applied to central area. Pages of white samut khoi paper. Provenance: Purchased from a San Francisco-area estate sale by Jesse Koniuk (JK Antiques), 2010. Provenance: Purchased from Past Perfect San Francisco on the William Edward Archer Fund, March 2021. Illustrated manuscript of the Abhidhamma chet kamphi (a text chanted at funerals), followed by the popular story of Phra Malai. The Abhidhamma Chet Khampi is a common 19th-century manuscript genre of Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. This version of the Abhidhamma Chet Khampi typically, as here, includes the legend of Phra Malai, a monk who travels to the realms of heavens and hells and returns to warn the lay community of the effects of the law of karma. In Pali (Abhidhamma chet kamphi) and Thai (list of donors) (Thai Khom). Manuscript written in ?? lines per folio, illustrated with images of hell, Jataka stories, gods and goddesses, and scenes from the Phra Malai.
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