Samut khoi

File:Samut Khoi 1.jpg

Samut thai dam specimen at Wat Khung Taphao Folk Museum

Samut khoi (Thai: สมุดข่อย, Lao: ສະໝຸດຂ່ອຍ, "khoi books") or samut thai (Thai: สมุดไทย) are a type of folding-book manuscript which were historically widely used in the areas of nowadays Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, as well as in Myanmar, where they are known as parabaik. They are usually made with the paper of the Siamese rough bush or khoi tree, and are not bound like Western books but are folded in an accordion style. Samut khoi are made either with black paper (in Thailand known as samut thai dam), or with white paper (samut thai khao). The use of samut khoi in Thailand dates to the Ayutthaya period. They were usually used for secular texts including royal chronicles, legal documents and works of literature, while palm-leaf manuscripts were more commonly used for religious texts.