[Title in Thai:] Nangsư̄ sanyā Krung Thēp Mahānakhō̜n kap Krung ʻAmērikan pen thāng maitrī khākhāi kan = Treaty of friendship and commerce between the United States and Siam. Signed at Bangkok May 29,

by Harris, Townsend. United States & Siam

$14,375 · Offered by Biblio

Bangkok, Siam: printed at the Washington Press by J. H. Chandler, 1856. 8vo (approx. 8½" x 6¾"), pp. 25, [1]; self-wrappers; Thai and English text on opposite pages; small hole from an old adhesion in the middle of the fourth and fifth leaf (sense, at least in the English version, remains clear); some curling at the edges and small marginal nicks and tears; in all, a good, clean copy. The first treaty between the US and Siam had been negotiated by Edmund Roberts in 1833. It ensured free trade and most favored nation status for the United States. Sir John Bowring negotiated a new treaty on behalf of Great Britain with the recently enthroned King Mongkut (aka Rama IV). When the Americans learned of this mission, they sent Townsend Harris, who was on his way to Japan, to Bangkok to update the original treaty for the U.S., which was signed on May 29, 1856. Townsend Harris (1804-1878) was an American merchant and politician who served as the first United States Consul General to Japan. He negotiated the the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, or the "Harris Treaty of 1858" between the US and Japan and is credited as the diplomat who first opened Shogunate Japan to foreign trade and culture in the Edo period, thereby paving the way for greater Western influence in Japan's economy and politics. Prior to his efforts in Japan, however, Harris was rerouted from his trip to Japan to make his way to Siam. Re-designated the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, the amendments granted Ameri

• Publisher: printed at the Washington Press by J. H. Chandler
• Year: 1856
• Printing: first
• Binding: unknown

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