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The archaeology of Tibetan books
Title
The archaeology of Tibetan books / by Agnieszka Helman-Ważny.
ISBN
9789004275041 (hardback : acid-free paper)
9004275045 (hardback : acid-free paper)
9789004275058 (e-book)
Publication
Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2014]
Copyright Notice Date
©2014
Physical Description
xviii, 311 pages : color illustrations ; 24 cm.
Summary
"In The Archaeology of Tibetan Books, Agnieszka Helman-Ważny explores the varieties of artistic expression, materials, and tools that have shaped Tibetan books over the millennia. Digging into the history of the bookmaking craft, the author approaches these ancient texts primarily through the lens of their artistry, while simultaneously showing them as physical objects embedded in pragmatic, economic, and social frameworks. She provides analyses of several significant Tibetan books--which usually carry Buddhist teachings--including a selection of manuscripts from Dunhuang from the 1st millennium C.E., examples of illuminated manuscripts from Western and Central Tibet dating from the 15th century, and fragments of printed Tibetan Kanjurs from as early as 1410. This detailed study of bookmaking sheds new light on the books' philosophical meanings"--Provided by publisher.
Format
Books
Language
English
Added to Catalog
October 01, 2014
Series
Brill's Tibetan studies library, volume 36
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
1. Introduction. The starting point ; Borrowing the term "archaeology" ; Books written in Tibetan ; Statistics in book history ; My fieldworks, sources, and experiments
2. Methods : an uneasy alliance of science and history. Many typologies of book features ; Tools to read what is not written ; Survey of disciplines used for dating ; Study of paper in books
3. Tibetan books : a craft and artistry
4. Indigo, gold, and human blood : Tibetan illuminated manuscripts. Manuscripts versus prints ; Patronage and ownership ; Gold manuscripts ; Format and book binding style ; Illuminations and decorations ; Calligraphy ; Page layout ; Ink ; Writing tools ; Paper
5. Tibetan woodblock printing culture. Origin of new technology and the early Tibetan woodblock ; Prints ; Production of the Tibetan Buddhist canon ; Edition, re-edition, and reprint : technical identity of hundred-volume sets ; Early editions of Tibetan Kanjur produced in Beijing ; Mongolian Kanjurs ; Tibetan Kanjurs produced in Tibet and Tibetan borderland ; Patterns of physical features in selected editions of Tibetan Kanjur in a regional and temporal perspective
6. A survey of Tibetan paper. History of paper in Central Asia and Tibet ; Himalayan papermaking plants and the localization of Tibetan paper and book origins ; Papermaking methods in Tibet traceable in books ; Papermaking tools and technology
7. Conservation. Typical damage to Tibetan books ; Selected procedures of conservation treatment
appendix 1. Descriptions of studied books from the British Library
appendix 2. Features of paper in particular sets of Tibetan Kanjur
appendix 3. Transcription of the Yongle covers inscriptions
appendix 4. List of studied items from the Berlin State Library, Tibetan Collection
appendix 5. List of studied items from the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, the Asian Reading Room, Tibetan Collection.
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