Research Catalog

Title

The archaeology of Tibetan books / by Agnieszka Helman-Ważny.

Author

Helman-Ważny, Agnieszka.

Publication

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2014]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xviii, 311 pages : color illustrations; 25 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.

Series Statement

Brill's Tibetan studies library, 1568-6183 ; volume 36

Uniform Title

Brill's Tibetan studies library ; v. 36.

Subject

• Books > Tibet Region > History
• Books > Conservation and restoration > History. > Tibet Region
• Bookbinding > Tibet Region > History
• Book design > Tibet Region > History
• Printing > Tibet Region > History
• Papermaking > Tibet Region > History
• Manuscripts, Tibetan > History and criticism
• Archaeology and history > Tibet Region
• Arts, Tibetan > History
• Tibet Region > Antiquities

Bibliography (note)

• 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 -- 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: Selected items from the Tibetan Collections of the British Library -- Appendix 2: Features of paper in selected sets of Tibetan Kanjur -- Appendix 3: Transcription of the Yongle covers inscriptions -- Appendix 4: Selected items from the Tibetan Collection of the Berlin State Library -- Appendix 5: Selected items from the Tibetan Collection of the Library of Congress, Washington DC, the Asian Reading Room.

Call Number

JFE 16-3109

ISBN

• 9789004275041
• 9004275045
• 9789004275058 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2014011156

OCLC

872222451

Author

Helman-Ważny, Agnieszka.

Title

The archaeology of Tibetan books / by Agnieszka Helman-Ważny.

Publisher

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2014]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Brill's Tibetan studies library, 1568-6183 ; volume 36

Brill's Tibetan studies library ; v. 36.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Research Call Number

JFE 16-3109