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

• Superior document: Brill's Tibetan Studies Library, Volume 36
• VerfasserIn: Helman-Ważny, Agnieszka,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, Netherlands : : Brill,, 2014.; ©2014
• Year of Publication: 2014
• Language: English
• Series: Brill's Tibetan studies library ; Volume 36.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (329 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

In 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.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- 1 Introduction / Given-Name Helman-Ważny -- 2 Methods: An Uneasy Alliance of Science and History / Given-Name Helman-Ważny -- 3 Tibetan Books: A Craft and Artistry / Given-Name Helman-Ważny -- 4 Indigo, Gold, and Human Blood: Tibetan Illuminated Manuscripts / Given-Name Helman-Ważny -- 5 Tibetan Woodblock Printing Culture / Given-Name Helman-Ważny -- 6 A Survey of Tibetan Paper / Given-Name Helman-Ważny -- 7 Conservation / Given-Name Helman-Ważny -- 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 -- Bibliography -- Index.