Jim Thompson:The House On The Klong

by William Warren, Jean Michel Beurdeley (Text), Luca Invernizzi

The polished wood panels of a group of Thai-style teak houses face the slow-moving waters of the Klong Maha Nag. Here was the home of Jim Thompson, a man whose flair for the tasteful and graceful led him to build a house in which objects of great value an

Genres: Nonfiction, Interior Design, History

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book about a magnificent house. This book is not about Jim Thompson--not about his life or his mysterious disappearance. It is about the creation of his extraordinary house in Bangkok. The finest book on Thai aesthetics that I have ever read was the one by Alex Kerr, Bangkok Found--just re-released as Hidden Bangkok, published by Penguin. I highly recommend Kerr's book to be better informed for understanding the Thompson House. Though I guess it should be said that the house of the Klong--like the art collection housed there--is a personal interpretation of Thai aesthetics and art. It is one man's vision of beauty. The book has some beautiful photographs of the home, garden and art. The essay on the collection by Beurdeley is fantastic (Beurdeley is as interesting as Thompson in so many ways). For me, it is a special pleasure to repurchase books that I used to own previously and that were once part of my large-ish library in Japan. It is like being reunited with an old friend and it also is fun to remember how much I used to love certain topics. The Italian photographer is also a well-known great name.

The main essay was written by a Thompson biographer, who also wrote the Jim Thompson: The Thai Silk Sketchbook, with wonderful watercolors painted by Graham By field.

[Alper Günay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I visited Thompson's house in 2018 and the book brought good memories back. This is a very good book to see some details about Thompson's house and get info about Thompson's art collections. He had a very refined taste, fortunately, the foundation preserved the house and art collection faithfully. However, I learned through the book that some of his art collections have stolen after his death. All in all, this is a great book to understand Thompson better and see some great pictures from his house and art collections.