Table Of ContentThe Archaeology
o f Tibetan Books
BY
AGNIESZKA HELMAN -WAZNY
B R I L L
The Archaeology of Tibetan Books
By
Agnieszka Helman-Wazny
' เ 6 8 ใ> '
BRILL
LEIDEN I BOSTON
Brill’s Tibetan
Studies Library
Edited by
Henk Blezer
Alex McKay
Charles Ramble
VOLUME 36
briil.com/btsi
The titles published in this series are listed at
Cover illustration: Monks reciting books at Bya mang po in Western Tibet. Photo by author, June .
2013
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
I Ielman-Wazny, Agnieszka.
The Archaeology of Tibetan books / by Agnieszka I lelman-Wazny.
pages cm. — (Brill’s Tibetan studies library, ISSN 1568-6183 ; volume 36)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-27504-1 (hardback ะ acid-free paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-27505-8 (e-book) 1. Books—-
Tibet Region—History. 2. Books—Conservation and restoration—Tibet Region—History. 3. Bookbinding—-
Tibet Region—History. 4. Book design—Tibet Region—History. 5. Printing—Tibet Region—History.
6. Papermaking—Tibet Region—History. 7. Manuscripts, Tibetan—History and criticism. 8. Tibet Region—
Antiquities. 9. Archaeology and history—'Tibet Region. 10. Arts, Tibetan—History. I. Title.
Z8.T53II46 2014
002.095T5—dc23
201401U5
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Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities.
For more information, please see brill.com/brill-typeface.
ISSN 1568-6183
ISBN 978-90-04-27504-1 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-27505-8 (e-book)
Copyright 2014 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Global Oriental and Hotei Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
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Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
MIX
Paper from
responsible sources
T,-,TW FSCSC109576 Printed by Printforce, the Netherlands
For Tomasz and otga
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of Illustrations xi
1 Introduction 1
The Starting Point 1
Borrowing the Term “Archaeology” 2
Books Written in Tibetan 3
Statistics in Book History 4
My Fieldwork, Sources, and Experiments 5
2 Methods: An Uneasy Alliance of Science and History 12
Many Typologies of Book Features 13
Tools to Read What is Not Written 13
Survey of Disciplines Used for Dating 17
Study of Paper in Books 21
3 Tibetan Books: A Craft and Artistry 47
4 Indigo, Gold, and Human Blood: Tibetan Illuminated
Manuscripts 76
Manuscripts versus Prints 76
Patronage and Ownership 77
Gold Manuscripts 79
Format and Book Binding Style 81
Illuminations and Decorations 85
Calligraphy 95
Page Layout 96
Ink 99
Writing Tools 101
Paper 102
5 Tibetan Woodblock Printing Culture 116
Origin of New Technology and the Early Tibetan Woodblock Prints
Production of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon 125
Edition, Re-edition, and Reprint: Technical Identity of Hundred-Volume
Sets 132
VIII CONTENTS
Early Editions of Tibetan Kanjnr Produced in Beijing 136
Mongolian Kanjurs 158
Tibetan Kanjurs Produced in Tibet and Tibetan Borderland 163
Patterns of Physical Features in Selected Editions of Tibetan Kanjur in a
Regional and Temporal Perspective 176
6 A Survey of Tibetan Paper 179
History of Paper in Central Asia and Tibet 179
Himalayan Papermaking Plants and the Localization of Tibetan Paper and
Book Origins 183
Papermaking Methods in Tibet Traceable in Books 191
Papermaking Tools and Technology 192
7 Conservation 201
Typical Damage to Tibetan Books 206
Selected Procedures of Conservation Treatment 216
Appendix 1 Selected Items from the Tibetan Collections of the
British Library 225
Appendix 2 Features of Paper in Selected Sets of Tibetan
Kanjur 252
Appendix 3 Transcription of the Yongle Covers Inscriptions 262
Appendix 4 Selected Items from the Tibetan Collection of the Berlin
State Library 265
Appendix 5 Selected Items from the Tibetan Collection of the
Library of Congress, Washington DC, the Asian Reading
Room 276
Bibliography 288
Index 299
Acknowledgements
Research on the codicology and materiality of Tibetan books is very much in its
infancy. Creating this book required considerable groundbreaking preparation before
many research tasks could be started-—-much less completed. Without the generous
support, guidance, and encouragement 1 have received from many people and institu
tions, I could not have successfully confronted the enormity and complexity of such a
challenge. My research had to be conducted on original objects; I could not study fea
tures of paper from photographs, even if these were high quality digitized resolutions.
Selecting which books to choose was yet another problem. Library catalogues rarely
contained useful information on the material aspects of books; some collections were
extremely difficult to approach—especially those that were not yet properly cata
logued. Thanks to very professional curators at many institutions, my work was made
easier. I am enormously grateful to all who gave me essential advice on the selection of
books for my study. Despite all the difficulties, I was fortunate to always meet the right
people and profit from their professional help and knowledge. This book represents
the culmination of the generosity of many individuals, and it is with pleasure that I am
able finally to share it.
With this in mind, my gratitude is directed first to the librarians and curators who
supported my research on material aspects of Tibetan books with professional advice
and organizational help. Thus, I would like to thank Dr. Susan Whitfield (British
Library), Dr. Sam van Schaik (British Library), Mr. Burkhard Quessel (British Library),
Dr. Michael Balk (Berlin State Library), Dr. Susan Meinheit (Library of Congress),
Prof. Zdzislaw Pietrzyk (Jagiellonian University Library), Dr. Monika Jaglarz
(Jagiellonian University Library), Dr. Ellen Avril (Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell
University), Dr. Lauran Hartley (Columbia University Library, NYC), Gene Smith, Jeff
Wallman, Lobsang Shastri and Kelsang Lhamo (The Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA), and Dr. Peggy Daub (Special Collections Library,
University of Michigan).
I am grateful to Professor Richard Ernst for allowing me to examine many excep
tional examples of Tibetan books in his private collection, and also for sharing his
knowledge and advice on the material aspects of books and paintings. I am very much
in debt to Mr. Arthur Leeper for enabling me to undertake technical and material stud
ies on Yongle covers from his collection. Further, I would like to thank my husband
Prof. Tomasz Wazny, of the University of Arizona, for identifying the wood of these
covers. I would also like to thank Yudru Tsomu, Associate Professor of the Center for
Tibetan Studies of Sichuan Province and Bugang Chashingtsang for their help with the
Yongle covers inscriptions and the translation and identification of Tibetan terms.
X ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would also like to direct Illy warmest thanks to Tibetologist colleagues with whom
1 could always discuss ideas related to Tibetan books. 1 thank Dr. Hildegard Diemberger
(University of Cambridge), Dr. Amy Heller (cnrs), Dr. Kirill Alexeev (University of
St Petersburg), Dr. Alexander Zorin (Russian Academy of Sciences), Dr. Elena
Pakhoutova (Rubin Museum), Dr. Orna Almogi (University of Hamburg), and Prof.
Dorji Wangchuk (University of Hamburg) for their kind interest and constant
support.
For financial assistance, I am deeply grateful for the support 1 received from several
sources over the course of the last six years. My gratitude is directed to the Ministiy of
Science and Higher Education of Poland for supporting my three-year project from
2007 through 2009, “The lost fragment of Wanli Kanjur in thejagiellonian Library? The
value of authenticity of Tibetan books from Pander Collection in Poland.” This project
was realized together with Prof. Marek Mejor and Dr. Thupten Kunga Chashab, col
leagues from Warsaw University. I am also very grateful to the Libraiy of Congress for
granting me the 2010 Florence Tan Moeson Award to conduct research at the Tibetan
Collection of the Library of Congress, Washington DC and the Frederick Williamson
Memorial Fund, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge
for funding the travel grant: Mapping Tibetan Paper. Finally, my gratitude is also
directed to the Provost’s Author Support Fund at the University of Arizona for granting
me award toward the publication of this book.
I would like to thank Reeder (Wick) Dossett for reading the entire book. His many
valuable comments made my text more fluent and consistent. I also thank Elizabeth
Green and Kamila Janiszewska for reading fragments of the book and offering useful
advice on English-language matters and my sister Dorota Dominiak for technical help
with copy editing. Particular thanks are directed to Dr. Cynthia Col who helped pre
pare the final manuscript. Her help with final copyediting, indexing, and checking and
correcting translations of Chinese and Tibetan terms is much appreciated. Last but not
least, I would like to thank Patricia Radder of Brill for her support and understanding.
Without the expert assistance and generous support of my Family and everyone
involved, this book would not have been possible. In the end, I have to realize that
there is no end to the corrections and additions. In order to share this work, I accept
responsibility for any flaws that remain. Thank you to all!
