The stimulus for the joint venture of which the present book is the visible result was provided by the discovery of a Malay manuscript of the long lost Hikayat Patani by one of the authors, and the publication, quite independently, of a Thai version of the same text by the other. The authors, who were not acquainted with one another before this, "found" each other at the suggestion of Professor O. W. Wolters, to whom they are grateful for the idea. The preparation of the book took place on both sides of the Atlantic, with a frequent exchange of letters containing the results of the work of each author. In August, 1969, Teeuw was given the opportunity to visit Cornell University, where in a fortnight''s most intensive contact and concentrated research all the drafts were checked, supplemented, rewritten and improved, and the definitive arrangement of the book decided on. The work on the manuscript was completed in the following four months, again in geographically separated spheres. The actual manuscript was rounded off at the beginning of 1970.
