ur everyday lives are a story told in ticket stubs, receipts, newspaper advertisements, comic books, and political posters. In our fast-moving age, the look and feel of present times is quickly lost. Anake Nawigmune documents this passing history in his book, A Century of Thai Graphic Design. It is a visual tale of Thai popular culture told in ephemera - in delicate and disposable paper products that are a mirror to the attitudes of the day.

Nawigmune, 47, is a respected historian, author, collector and compiler. Having written dozens of books on Thai history, he has now turned his hand to assembling a record of recent Thai history made up of society's throwaway paper products. A second-generation collector, his enthusiasm for preserving paper items was fueled by his father's collection of magazines, stationary, calendars and postcards. Beyond the inherently transient quality of ephemera, old paper products are especially rare in Thailand. The hot, tropical climate quickly discolors and weakens paper, and recycling by the poor makes use of most discarded materials. And who would think to save the wrapper from a herbal remedy for "men's disease" (venereal disease) that now sheds light on the cultural attitudes and mores of an earlier day?

Nawigmune has assembled material from his own collection and those from his friends - collections that have rarely been on public view. In the seven months of preparation leading up to the book's publication, Nawigmune admits to moments of great excitement at finally seeing rare items as collectors revealed their collections for inclusion in the book. "There was this little book that I had tried to find for many years and couldn't find in the National Library... I finally found it when I did this book," he says with enthusiasm. It was book with a rare photo of Rama IV (King Mongkut) that was given to Queen Victoria.

Maybe foreigners cannot fully appreciate the massive transformations that have occurred in a century - from absolute monarchy in a city of Venice-like canals to emerging democracy in a metropolis of high-rises and elevated expressways. The "Occupations"-themed cigarette cards from 1920, which are reproduced in the book, graphically illustrate these changes. They depict well-known occupations of the day - but just 80 years later, some of the jobs are no longer identifiable.

Other interesting items include a nationalist magazine cover from the World War II era, showing patriotic Thai women painting over portions of maps of Laos and Cambodia to reflect "lost territories" reacquired during World War II (these areas were relinquished after the war). Obligatory Western views of "exotic" Siam, inaccurately mirrored in tourist postcards, are shown to have a long history.

Meanwhile, other prize artifacts have yet to surface. Of the 59,788 tickets sold for the Bangkok Centennial Exhibition in 1882, none are known to have survived. The items also showcase the talent of commercial artists of the past. "Now we use computers and not the hands to produce artwork, so the overall look is different when we compare today's printing with the past," comments Nawigmune, "these artifacts are very charming."

This theme of preserving the recent past is reflected in Nawigmune's other works as well, such as in Photos of Old Siam, a compilation of photos of city and country life. Just a few decades after many of the photos were taken, the quaint world of floating markets and wooden houses seems a distant dream. One 40-year- old photo depicts Victory Monument, in the center of Bangkok, ringed by dirt roads and a few stilt houses. Today it is encircled by intense construction and some of the densest traffic in town.

With 69 books to his name, Nawigmune continues to tackle the lost history of the recent past. "Now I am writing about postcards of Thailand. I would like to write 100 or 200 more books," he says, half-jokingly. As ephemera all around continues to quietly fade, Nawigmune untiringly delves into the past to document everyday life for the ages.

(Photographs by courtesy of River Press Books, Bangkok)

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