The archaeology of Tibetan books
By: by Agnieszka Helman-Ważny
Series: Brill's Tibetan studies library -- volume 36
Publisher: Brill
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Leiden; Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 311
ISBN-13: 9789004275041; 9789004275058
Subjects: Books; History; Conservation and restoration; Bookbinding; Book design; Printing; Papermaking; Tibetan Manuscripts; History and criticism; Antiquities; Archaeology and history; Tibetan Arts
Description: "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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. Introduction; title: The starting point; title: Borrowing the term "archaeology"; title: Books written in Tibetan; title: Statistics in book history; title: My fieldworks, sources, and experiments; title: 2. Methods : an uneasy alliance of science and history; title: Many typologies of book features; title: Tools to read what is not written; title: Survey of disciplines used for dating; title: Study of paper in books; title: 3. Tibetan books : a craft and artistry; title: 4. Indigo, gold, and human blood : Tibetan illuminated manuscripts; title: Manuscripts versus prints; title: Patronage and ownership; title: Gold manuscripts; title: Format and book binding style; title: Illuminations and decorations; title: Calligraphy; title: Page layout; title: Ink; title: Writing tools; title: Paper; title: 5. Tibetan woodblock printing culture; title: Origin of new technology and the early Tibetan woodblock Prints; title: Production of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon; title: Production of the Tibetan Buddhist canon; title: Edition, re-edition, and reprint : technical identity of hundred-volume sets; title: Early editions of Tibetan Kanjur produced in Beijing; title: Mongolian Kanjurs; title: Tibetan Kanjurs produced in Tibet and Tibetan borderland; title: Patterns of physical features in selected editions of Tibetan Kanjur in a regional and temporal perspective; title: 6. A survey of Tibetan paper; title: History of paper in Central Asia and Tibet; title: Himalayan papermaking plants and the localization of Tibetan paper and book origins; title: Papermaking methods in Tibet traceable in books; title: Papermaking tools and technology; title: 7. Conservation; title: Typical damage to Tibetan books; title: Selected procedures of conservation treatment; title: Appendix 1: Selected items from the Tibetan Collections of the British Library; title: Appendix 2: Features of paper in selected sets of Tibetan Kanjur; title: Appendix 3: Transcription of the Yongle covers inscriptions; title: Appendix 4: Selected items from the Tibetan Collection of the Berlin State Library; title: Appendix 5: Selected items from the Tibetan Collection of the Library of Congress, Washington DC, the Asian Reading Room.