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Kiscadale Publications - Books about Burma

Between 1988 and 1995 Paul Strachan’s Kiscadale Publications issued over 25 titles on the art, history and culture of Asia with a special interest in Burma. Here is a selection of Burma books still in print that can be ordered by email from sales@wisdom-books.com and a complete list of Kiscadale titles is appended below.

MANDALAY: Travels from the Golden City
by Paul Strachan

Mandalay describes life in the old capital that remains the spiritual heart of Myanmar, and a number of intrepid journeys Paul Strachan made, nearly always staying overnight at local Buddhist monasteries. His informative descriptions of Buddhist life highlight the great variety and richness of traditions found in Myanmar during the mid eighties.

In addition to describing a vibrant Buddhist culture, Mandalay tells of a warm and generous people, during that period untrammelled by Western materialism, as proud of their heritage as they are pious in faith. At times humorous, at others illuminating, Mandalay represents a personal anatomy of this intriguing land. The text is accompanied by evocative colour plates, taken by the author, that do much to capture the essence of Upper Myanmar.

1994 - 240 pages with 56 colour plates. Map, glossary and notes.
PRICE: £25.00 or US$45.00

BURMAH: A Photographic Journey, 1855-1925
by Noel F Singer

If visitors to modern Myanmar find the country picturesque and exotic, imagine how Europeans felt on arrival a century ago. In 1885 the British annexed the ancient kingdom and discovered an enchanting land of gilded pagodas and fairy tale palaces.

It has taken Noel Singer twenty-five years to amass this unique collection of photographs and early hand-tinted postcards, here reproduced in full colour. In both narrative and captions there is much fresh and little known information about this fascinating period.

1993, hard back, duotone, colour and B & W photos
PRICE: £25.00 or US$45.00

OLD RANGOON: City of the Shwe Dagon
by Noel F Singer

With much enjoyable anecdote, Noel Singer narrates the city's origins and development, before the British annexation and after. The book is extravagantly illustrated with period photographs, post cards and engravings. These historic pictures are complemented by present-day colour shots that reveal the splendid architectural heritage of Myanmar's capital.

As the Colonial city vanishes before so-called modernisation, this book provides a lasting monument to the splendid vestiges of a bygone era.

1995, 220 pages - Colour, duotone and B & W photos
PRICE:£25.00 or US$40.00

INVENTORY OF MONUMENTS AT PAGAN
by Pierre Pichard

Bagan is Myanmar's foremost historical site and was the capital of the first dynasty to unify Myanmar between the 11th and 13th centuries AD. Bagan also ranks as one of the world's most spectacular and important Buddhist places. At Bagan there are over 2,000 religious monuments spread over an area of sixteen square miles.

The Inventory consists of one or several pages for each monument, with a special layout presenting the line drawings, photographs and descriptive text. There is also a full introduction in English, French and Myanmar, together with extensive notes, tables and maps. This represents one of the most distinguished and important publishing projects of our times. The Inventory is not just visually impressive, but represent the first complete record of Bagan's spectacular two thousand plus Buddhist monuments.

1992 - Nine volumes of 432 pages, 2,400 line drawings,
10,000 B & W photos, 8 sector maps and a 900 x 1280mm
folded map. Volumes 1-5 now published.
PRICE: £85.00 or US$150.00 per vol

SCOTS IN BURMA: Golden Times in a Golden Land
by Alister McCrae

The first part of the book contains an outline of British commercial involvements in Myanmar from the earliest days, through to the establishment of colonial rule in 1886. A fascinating picture of the trade and the traders is presented.

Part Two begins with the author's arrival in Myanmar in 1933, and whilst narrating his personal story, life in Myanmar under the British is assessed. To complement the text, contemporary photographs drawn from previously unpublished sources make this book of considerable visual interest.

1990, 120 pages, B & W photos
PRICE: £14.50 or US$30.00

PAGAN: ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF OLD BURMA
by Paul Strachan

The first imperial capital of Myanmar, Bagan, was by the start of the 12th century AD a world centre of the Theravada Buddhist life. Successive kings and their subjects chose to glorify their faith through the lavish and ambitious construction of monuments.

Pagan has been conceived as a field-guide to Myanmar's foremost historical site; the book has also been designed to be of value to the art historian, connoisseur and those interested in general Buddhist culture. Fully illustrated in colour and black and white, Pagan is a magnificent book that does justice to the rich and varied traditions of painting and sculpture found within these dynamic Buddhist monuments.

1996; 206 pages, colour and B &W photos
PRICE: £25.00 or US$45.00

BURMA: Encountering the Land of the Buddhas
by Ellis Everarda

Wherever the visitor turns in Burma he cannot but be met by the all-pervasive presence of the Buddhist faith, whether a pagoda or image, monk or procession. Here a rich and varied landscape plays host to a fun-loving colourful people, ever mindful of millennia of manners and custom, culture and tradition. Caught for ever in these outstanding images are the peace of the great Shwedagon Pagoda, and the bustle of downtown Yangon. The grandeur of the vast Irrawaddy River balances the delicate fragrance of Inle Lake. The devotional quiet of the pilgrim centre at Sagaing reveals contemporary Buddhism. A chapter on Bagan - a lost city of over two thousand staggeringly impressive monuments embodies Burma's golden age.

114 pages with 112 colour photos
PRICE: £17.99 or US$35.00

NAT-PWE: Burma's Supernatural Subculture
by Yves Rodrigue

Nat-Pwe illuminates the still active nat cults of present-day Myanmar. Many people, men and women, choose to dedicate their lives by marrying a nat through lengthy and elaborate initiation rites. Beneath the surface of Myanmar's austere anti-ritualistic Theravada Buddhist faith lies this fantastic world of extravagant costume, ecstatic music and flamboyant dance, a sub-culture peopled by transsexuals who perform their theatrical rites that so beautifully blend music and dance with iconography and mysticism.

Noel F Singer has contributed a full set of colour paintings of the 37 lords.

1992, paper back, 136 pages in colour and B & W
PRICE: £17.95 or US$35.00

THANGLIENA: The Life of T H Lewin
by John Whitehead

Thomas Herbert Lewin (1839-1916) was a great soldier-administrator in the wild hills of India's north-east frontier. Not just a man of action, Lewin was also an anthropologist, linguist, writer, artist and musician.

For the early part of his life he became effectively the ruler of the remote Lushai Hill Tracts and his subjects, who had no previous acquaintance with Europeans, came to affectionately know him as Thangliena. His work in understanding the language and culture of the Lushais was of lasting significance.

1992. 450 pages with B & W photos
PRICE: £25.00 or US$45.00

BURMESE NATIONALIST MOVEMENTS 1940-48
by U Maung Maung

This is an authoritative study of a crucial period of modern Myanmar's history. U Maung Maung continues the story of his earlier work From Sangha to Laity (1980) and presents a fresh, and at times controversial, account of the Myanmar negotiations for independence and the role of such key figures as Aung San, Attlee and Mountbatten. The author includes illuminating new material on the origins of Myanmar's minority problems.

1989, 416 pages
IN HARD BACK: £36.00 or US$55.00
IN PAPER BACK: £15.50 or US$25.00

Further publications from Kiscadale: