"Present in 1878 and early 1879 and then returning again to Mandalay in 1885 with British forces, James Alfred Colbeck, mission priest for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and latterly military chaplain, provides a unique look at the beginning and end of Thibaw’s reign (1878-1885). The letters included were originally selected and edited by George H. Colbeck, mission priest at Mandalay and were published under the title of Letters from Mandalay, A Series of Letters For the Most Part Written From the Royal City of Mandalay During the Troublous Years of 1878-79; Together with Letters Written During the Last Burmese Campaign of 1885-88 (Knavesborough: Alfred W. Lowe, 1892). The natural division and balance of the letters included warrants their division into two separate groupings, with the 1878-1879 letters included here and the 1885-1888 letters included in the forthcoming issue of SBBR. According to George H. Colbeck, the senior Colbeck died four days after his correspondence of 27th February 1888, the last letter in the published collection. Unfortunately, the original editor included few details on the circumstances of the correspondence, with some exceptions, beyond date and general point of origin (in most cases Mandalay). We are not told, for example, to whom the letters were written. Aside from these limitations, however, these letters offer valuable information not available in other source materials on Mandalay during the Kon-baung dynasty’s last, and arguably most troubled reign." Edited by Michael W. Charney for the SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research