Trained in the demanding disciplines of Pali, Sanskrit and Tibetan, Suzanne Karpelès (1890-1968) spent most of her life rescuing, cataloguing and reviving Khmer manuscripts. First curator of the Royal Library of Phnom Penh in 1925 and founder of the Buddhist Institute five years later, she trained two future Supreme Patriarchs of Cambodia and gave the country an intellectual tool that, without her ever intending it, would become one of the quiet cradles of national awakening.