Tibetan Manuscripts and Early Printed Books, Volume II: Elaborations - Paperback

by Matthew T. Kapstein (Author)

Tibetan Manuscripts and Early Printed Books, Volume II explores the major categories of traditional Tibetan books, introducing their specific features and the main approaches to their study. In five major sections, it surveys manuscript collections including Buddhist scriptural canons, official and administrative documents, works on technical subjects--medicine, veterinary practice, liturgical chant, and the arts of divination--and Tibetan books from China and Mongolia. Two case studies exemplify the roles of paleographic and iconographic analysis in the examination of antique manuscripts.

Like Volume I, the second volume of Tibetan Manuscripts and Early Printed Books has been written by the foremost experts in the field, whose wide-ranging essays are illustrated with numerous full-color images of original works. Addressing students and scholars of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan history and culture in their varied dimensions, this volume will also interest scholars and other readers oriented more broadly to the global history of the book. Volume I was published simultaneously with volume II and is also now available.

Author Biography

Contributors: Cathy Cantwell, Ricardo Canzio, Matthew T. Kapstein, Petra Maurer, Robert Mayer, Charles Ramble, Hanna Schneider, Peter Schwieger, Jan-Ulrich Sobisch, Helmut Tauscher, Stacey Van Vleet, and Vesna A. Wallace.

Matthew T. Kapstein is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris and Associate of the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. His many books include The Tibetans and The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism.