helmanwaznyjiats 05 2009-libre

Recovering a Lost Literary Heritage:-

Preliminary Research on theWanli Bka’ ’gyur from Berlin

Agnieszka Helman-WażnyCornell University

Abstract: Technical aspects of Bka’ ’gyur manuscriptology are discussed. Theresults indicate the chronological as well as regional order of particular editions,and show that all material features of books are potentially meaningful andtraceable.-

This article traces the history and provenance of the missing volumes of the BerlinWanli Bka’ ’gyur, which was described by Helmut Eimer as lost during WorldWar II. Interdisciplinary research was involved in studying the physical corpus ofbooks, such as the fragments of Bka’ ’gyur editions from the Jagiellonian Library(Biblioteka Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego) in Cracow (Kraków), Poland (the lostWanli Bka’ ’gyur was recently re-discovered within the Pander collection), theUniversity of Michigan Library (Yongle Bka’ ’gyur), and the Harvard YenchingLibrary (supplement to Wanli Bka’ ’gyur). This preliminary examination attemptsto authenticate the fragment of the Wanli Bka’ ’gyur in Cracow as the Berlin WanliBka’ ’gyur on the basis of the history and physical features of the books, and hasallowed us to group particular Bka’ ’gyur volumes from the Pander collection insets.

Rediscovery of the Wanli Bka’ ’gyur from Berlin in PolandThis story begins in 2003 when the search for Tibetan books in Poland led me tothe Pander collection from the former Prussian State Library (PreußischeStaatsbibliothek). The history of this collection is fascinating at all stages – it haspassed from Chinese and Tibetan, to German and Polish hands. Eugen Pander wasa German professor born in 1854 in Livonia1 as a Russian citizen, and was a

1 Livonia was inhabited by various Baltic and Finnish peoples, ruled by an upper class of BalticGermans. Over the course of time some nobles were Polonized into the Polish-Lithuanian nobility(szlachta) or Russiied into the Russian nobility (dvoryanstvo). The Russian Empire conquered SwedishLivonia during the course of the Great Northern War (1700-1721) and acquired the province at thetreaty of Nystad in 1721. Russia then annexed Polish Livonia (Inlanty) in 1772 during the partitions

Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 5 (December 2009): 1-27.http://www.thlib.org?tid=T5691.1550-6363/2009/5/T5691.© 2009 by Agnieszka Helman-Ważny, Tibetan and Himalayan Library, and International Association of TibetanStudies.Distributed under the THL Digital Text License.

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nineteenth-century pioneer of Tibetan Buddhist studies, especially known for hiswork in the ield of Tantric Iconography.2His collection of Tibetan books purchasedduring his stay in Peking is one of a few important early Western collections ofTibetan literature.

The Pander collection contains Tibetan and Sino-Tibetan books, and is presentlydeposited at the Jagiellonian University Library in Cracow, Poland. The collectionhas been forgotten and is un-catalogued, thus constituting a lost heritage for worldscholarship. No proper catalogue of these works exists, and the entire collectionhas probably been untouched for almost 120 years. Pander’s texts and letters givesome clues as to its contents.3 The original collection seems to have included,among other items, portions of Bka’ ’gyur, works of Lcang skya ho thog thu rolpa’i rdo rje (1717-1786), Tibetan-Mongolian dictionaries, and the Fifteenth centuryfounder of Dge lugs pa school’s (Tsong kha pa, 1357-1419) works. The portionsof Bka’ ’gyur editions printed during the Ming Dynasty have been found amongPander’s books, and the BerlinWanli Bka’ ’gyur has been identiied among them.4Early xylographic editions of the Tibetan Bka’ ’gyur were printed in Peking, China.The irst was the Yongle edition printed in 1410 with red ink. As early as thetwelfth century, the printing technology irst invented by the Chinese, largely forthe purpose of propagating Buddhist literature, was adopted by the Tibetans, whowere to continue to use it up to the twentieth century.5 In Peking new impressionscontinued to be taken from the Yongle blocks and in this way the Wanli editionprinted in black ink in 1606 was produced. When the blocks wore out, new blockswere prepared and carved, using prints of old blocks as a master. These arerepresented by the Qing dynasty re-edition and its reprints. The Yongle/Wanliedition of the Tibetan Bka’ ’gyur (wooden blocks carved before 1410 in the Yonglereign period of the Chinese Ming dynasty) is not only the irst printed edition ofthe Tibetan Bka’ ’gyur, but also one of the irst printed Tibetan book collectionsso far known. According to Jonathan A. Silk, the only conirmed copy of one folio

of Poland. In 1796 the Riga Governorate was renamed as the Governorate of Livonia (Russian:Лифляндская губерния / Lilyandskaya Guberniya, Latvian: Vidzemes Guberņa, Estonian: LiivimaaKubermang). Livonia remained within the Russian Empire until the end of World War I, when it wassplit between the newly independent states of Latvia and Estonia. In 1918–1920 both Soviet troopsand German Freikorps fought against Latvian and Estonian troops for control over Livonia, but theirattempts were defeated (“Livonia,” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livonia, accessed March20th, 2009).2 Eugen Pander, Das Pantheon des Tschangtscha Hutuktu, ein Beitrag zur Iconographie des

Lamaismus; herausgegeben und mit Inhaltsverzeichnissen versehen von Albert Grünwedel (Berlin1890); Sushama Lohia, Lalitavajra’s Manual of Buddhist Iconography (New Delhi 1994), 33-270.3 Helmut Eimer, “Spurensicherung: Das verschollene Berliner Fragment des Wanli-Kanjur,”

Zentralasiatische Studien, no. 30 (2000): 27-51.4 The Wanli Bka’ ’gyur has been identiied in Cracow during the project “The Lost Fragment of

Wanli Kanjur Edition in the Jagiellonian Library? The Value of Authenticity of Tibetan Books fromPander Collection in Poland” initiated by the author of the present article and funded by PolishMinistryof Science. The study was done together with Prof. Dr. Marek Mejor and Dr. Thupten Kunga Chashabfrom the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw.5 Paul Harrison, “A Brief History of the Tibetan Kanjur,” in Tibetan Literature. Studies in Genre,

eds. José Ignacio Cabezón, Roger R. Jackson (Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion, 1996), 81.

2Helman-Ważny: Recovering a Lost Literary Heritage

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livonia

of Yongle has been identiied in the Special Collections Library at the Universityof Michigan.6 According to Bruce C. Hall, Harvard-Yenching Library has whatpurports to be an imperial “postface” to this Bka’ ’gyur (two incomplete volumes).7This article traces the history and provenance of the missing volumes of the BerlinWanli Bka’ ’gyur, which was described by Helmut Eimer as lost during WorldWar II.8Without the above-mentioned articles I would probably never have foundthis previously lost collection. This article attempts to authenticate the fragmentof the Wanli Bka’ ’gyur in Cracow as the Berlin Wanli Bka’ ’gyur on the basis ofhistory and physical features of the books. I approach this task as a paperconservator and manuscriptologist with an abiding interest in Tibetan primarily inorder to support linguists and historians with my practical skills on technologicaland material aspects of Tibetan books.

The Origin and Provenance of the Berlin Wanli Bka’ ’gyur

Figure 1: A former library of YonghegongMonastery located in the quarter behind theYonghegong Monastery.

Not much is known about the irststages of the Chinese-Tibetan historyof the Berlin Wanli Bka’ ’gyurbetween 1606 when the collection wasprinted and 1889 when Eugen Panderbrought the fragment of this edition toBerlin. The place where Panderobtained his collection is not clearlymentioned by him; however, he relatesthat he was very lucky in obtainingifty-nine volumes of the Yongle,Wanli, and Jiajing editions of the Bka’’gyur in one of the Emperor

Monasteries in Peking.9 The Emperor monastery which Pander had a connectionwith was a Yonghegong Monastery in Peking (Temple of Eternal Peace) and itwas probably the place where he obtained his books.10 In October 2007 I made anattempt to indmore information about Eugen Pander and his acquisition in Peking,but unfortunately all I discovered was a former library of Yonghegong Monasterywhich has not functioned as a library since the Cultural Revolution in China (Fig.1).

6 Jonathan A. Silk, “Notes on the History of the Yongle Kanjur,” in Suhrllekhah: Festgabe für HelmutEimer (Indica et Tibetica 28). Monographien zu den Sprachen und Literaturen des indo-tibetischenKulturraumes, eds. HahnMichael, Hartmann Jens-Uwe, and Steiner Roland (Swisttal-Odendorf 1996),153-200.7 Bruce Cameron Hall, “A Dscriptive List of the Tibetan (Tib.) Collection in the Rare Books of the

Harvard-Yenching Library.” Cambridge 1979. Unpublished typescript revised in 1980 as a PhD thesisat the Sanskrit Department of Harvard University.8 Helmut Eimer, “Spurensicherung,” 27-51.9 Helmut Eimer, “Spurensicherung,” 29.10 Eugen Pander,Das Pantheon des Tschangtscha Hutuktu, 7; Sushama Lohia, Lalitavajra’s Manual,

62.

3Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies, no. 5 (December 2009)

Presently, this building located in the quarter behind the YonghegongMonasteryis abandoned, and only traces of its previous greatness are noticeable.

Figure 2: The paper strips which bound volumeswithin the Pander A catalog. These strips are sealedwith a black inked seal with Chinese characters onit and additionally described in Tibetan with blackink, and in English with a pencil. There is a shelfmark of Museum für Völkerkunde written with greenpencil with a date of acquisition (1889) on it.

How Pander transported his booksfrom Peking we do not know.However, there are a few facts whichmay shed a little light on this. Iassumed that he sent all hisacquisitions to Germany at once sinceall of the volumes have the sameinventory marks. All together, thePander collection in the JagiellonianUniversity Library includes 865volumes within six portions which aredescribed as Pander A, B, C, E, F, andPantheon. Not all of the collection hasbeen identiied until now, but most ofthe volumes within the Pander Acatalog are bound tightly with Chinesepaper strips, sealed with a black inked seal with Chinese characters on it, and,additionally, described in Tibetan with black ink and in English with a pencil (Fig.2). Most of the volumes have shelf marks of the Ethnographic Museum writtenwith green pencil with the year of acquisition (1889) on the irst folios. The stampsof the Prussian State Library were found on a very few volumes.When these stripsare taken off to see what is in the books, there is no way to put them on again inthe same way due to the paper leaves’ deformation over time. This suggests thatthese books have not been opened before, since they were bound with paper stripsand sealed with Chinese seals before being packed and sent to Germany. Theexistence of all those provenance marks is rather compatible with the Pandercollection history. Only the pencil descriptions in English cannot be explained,since we do not have enough information at this moment. Additionally, theEuropean type of paper strips were attached to a few volumes and the watermark:“Note paper London” is readable in this paper structure (Fig. 3). The origin of this“London paper” and English handwriting can only suggest that someEnglish-speaking people had this collection in hand sometime.


Figure 3: The European type of paper strip, whichwas found attached to a few volumes, characterizedby the watermark: “Note paper London.”

The German chapter of the BerlinWanli Bka’ ’gyur history (1889-1944)began when the Pander collection wasirst donated to the EthnographicMuseum in Berlin11 and then toKönigliche Bibliothek.12 Further,during the closing stages of WorldWar II, collections from the PrussianState Library in Berlin were evacuatedto the Silesian Castle Fürstenstein(Książ) and later to the CistercianBrothers Monastery Grüssau(Krzeszów) to protect them from allied

bombing (Fig. 4).13

Figure 4: The Silesian Castle Fürstenstein (Książ),where Pander books from the Prussian Library inBerlin were hidden during the closing stages ofWorld War II.

When Lower Silesia became Polishterritory after the war, the Polish stateclaimed the collection as abandonedproperty. Thus, the Polish part of theWanli Bka’ ’gyur history starts in1946-47, when a group of researchersled by Dr. Stanisław Sierotwiński,delegate of the Ministry of Educationfrom the Jagiellonian UniversityLibrary, transported, among others,the Pander Collection to the mainlibrary seat in Cracow.14 Thiscollection is still placed at this libraryon the rights of deposit of the PolishGovernment.15 The Polish government kept the Berlinka’s existence a secret until1977, when Polish First Secretary Edward Gierek gave East German leader Erich

11 Ethnographic Museum, Berlin was renamed for Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin from 1993.12 Nowadays Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (formerly Preußische Staatsbibliothek).13 The circumstances of the Berlinka collection acquisition, including the Pander Collection, by the

Jagiellonian University Library are described in: Zdzisław Pietrzyk, “Book Collections from the FormerPreussische Staatsbibliothek in the Jagiellonian Library,” Polish Libraries Today: Foreign Collectionsin Polish Libraries. A Historical Overview, vol. 6 (2005): 81-87;Werner Schochow, Bücherschicksale.Die Verlagerungsgeschichte der Preußischen Staatsbibliothek. Auslagerung, Zerstörung, Entfremdung.Rückführung XV (Berlin, New York: W. de Gruyter, 2003), 328.14 Monika Jaglarz, “Zbiór rękopisów i druków orientalnych z byłej Pruskiej Biblioteki Państwowej

w Berlinie przechowywanych w Bibliotece Jagiellońskiej,” eds. Jerzy Malinowski and MirosławaWojtczak, Torun Studies on Oriental Art vol. 3 (2008): 49.15 The status quo of Pander’s books: The part of the former Prussian State Library collection called

Berlinka in Poland is referred to as property of the Polish nation now. Poland claims that it shouldretain ownership of the Berlinka as compensation for Polish historical collections destroyed or lootedby Germans duringWorldWar II. The Germanmedia refers to the Berlinka as the “last German prisonerof war,” and claims that Poland is in violation of the Hague Convention of 1907. To this day, each sideclaims this collection.


Honecker seven pieces of musicmanuscripts from the Berlinka collection, includingMozart’s original manuscript of "Magic Flute" and Beethoven’s notes for his NinthSymphony, as a gift.16

Because ownership of this collection has been a point of dissension betweenPoland and Germany, for many years the collection was untouched and noconservation procedures were applied. For the same reason, access to this collectionwas very limited and for many years, impossible. The positive side of this dificultpolitical situation is that nowadays, researchers of different disciplines can studythe books, and with the present methodology of research, we can obtain muchmore information about the history of the Yongle and Wanli Bka’ ’gyur editionsthan would be possible if the books had been restored in the past.17

Methods of Bka’ ’gyur ManuscriptologyThe Tibetan Buddhist canon is contained in the Bka’ ’gyur edition, usuallyconsisting of about a hundred volumes, and the Bstan ’gyur, with most editionscontaining some 225 volumes of commentaries. The available editions are ofdifferent sizes, ranging from fragments to complete multi-volume collections. Thevariations exhibited in the various versions of the collection with regard to theirdifferences in style, arrangement, formats, materials, and techniques used in theircreation were examined. Varieties in the style of books, their form, and materialsused were also connected to a very wide-ranging geographical area in which Tibetanhas served as a language of learning and medium of communication among AsianBuddhists. Communities using the Tibetan language did not equally adapt uniformmethods of book production and did not use the same materials – local “bookculture” was often preferable. That is why in this study, interdisciplinary researchwas involved in studying the physical corpus of books from the Eugen Pandercollection in Cracow and other fragments of Bka’ ’gyur editions from the Universityof Michigan Library and the Harvard Yenching Library collections as a reference– all produced in the Peking area.18 Elements of codicology, paleography, art

16 Zdzisław Pietrzyk, “Zbiory z byłej Pruskiej Biblioteki Państwowej w Bibliotece Jagiellońskiej,”Alma Mater no. 100 (2008): 16.17 Books after conservation treatment lose a part of information “sealed” in the materials which

compose a book. For example, results of paper components analyses (other than ibers) can be dilutedafter introducing other substances during the conservation treatment. In the same way, it is not possibleto conduct pollen analyses after conservation, since there will not be much of the original dust toanalyze. However, I would like to stress that conservation procedures should never be avoided for thesake of research – simply that all possible analyses should be conducted before the conservationprocedures.18 To identify the Yongle/Wanli edition of the Tibetan Bka’ ’gyur and especially to authenticate the

lost fragment of the Berlin Wanli Bka’ ’gyur printed in 1606 in the Eugen Pander collection now inthe Jagiellonian Library in Cracow, the other fragments were used as a reference:

• one folio of Yongle has been identiied in the Special Collections Library at the Universityof Michigan

• two incomplete volumes at the Harvard-Yenching Library (purported to be an imperial“postface” to this Bka’ ’gyur).


history, and material science were applied to examine the Bka’ ’gyur volumes inorder to identify their book format, bookbinding style, techniques of leafpreparation, page outline, type of script, and character of decorations, such asfore-edge paintings. Some aspects of Tibetanmanuscript typology based on physicalfeatures of books were also studied and discussed by Christina Scherrer-Schaub.19Historic paper supports were also examined on the basis of visual observation and,later, using microscopy (iber composition). In my study of paper I focused on theoptical characteristics of the material, including any features, such as wire marks(chain and laid lines), that are visible against light in the paper structure, as wellas iber composition and the presence of other inishing substances in the paper.In order to determine iber composition, paper samples were collected from chosenvolumes representative of different parts of a set (according to content and technicaldifferences). Light microscopywas used to analyze iber composition.20Transmittedlight was most useful to observe color changes after staining, and polarized lightwas used for studying the morphological features of ibers. It was rarely possibleto study morphological features, such as all shapes of the ibers, as well as lumenand iber walls within all iber lengths. With magniication at 60x and greater, thecolor of staining and iber placing were analyzed, and later under highermagniication, morphology and anatomical features were studied. The historicalcharacter of the samples made identiication of ibers much more dificult. Themain problems were connected with morphological changes in ibers caused bytechnological processes during papermaking and the degree of iber deteriorationover time. However, all cells and particles present in the paper are signiicantcomponents which characterize the paper and allow for the identiication of thesame type of paper in different volumes.

Samples prepared directly from plants and presented on slides are very helpfulin understanding the nature of ibers and technological processing. However, theycannot be directly used as patterns for identiication because paper manufacturingtechnology inluences to a large degree the shape of the ibers, their size, and theirplacement in the paper. Additionally, we have to take the inluence of degradationon the shape of these same ibers in historic papers into consideration. It is importantto know the iber structure in all of these stages. Understanding the relationshipbetween plants, ibers, and the resulting paper helps us to understand the propertiesof Asian papers and the differences in their visual appearance in works of art.Comparing the composition of ibers in the paper with areas of the papermakingplants’ regional distribution could yield information on the book’s origin.21 The

19 Christina A. Scherrer-Schaub and George Bonani, “Establishing a Typology of the Old TibetanManuscripts: AMultidisciplinary Approach,” inDunhuang Manuscript Forgeries, ed. SusanWhitield(London: The British Library, 2002), 184-215.20 Bertie Lee Browning, Analysis of Paper (New York & Basel 1977), 22; Marja-Sisko

Ilvessalo-Pfäfli, Fiber Atlas, Identiication of Papermaking Fibers (Berlin Heidelberg 1995:Springer-Verlag).21 Agnieszka Helman-Ważny, “Tibetan Manuscripts: Scientiic Examination and Conservation

Approaches,” in Edinburgh Conference Papers 2006: Proceedings from the Fifth InternationalConference of the Institute of Paper Conservation and First International Conference of the Institute


consistency of pigments and other media analyses can also help, if one traces thishistorically and compares it with the dates when new methods were discovered inthe history of craftsmanship, such as papermaking and printing.22

The links made between individual volumes and the classiication of all volumesin sets can also help in investigating economical and cultural aspects of theproduction of the various versions/collections, and the circumstances in whicheach of these collections was produced and given inal shape. An additional aspectof this research is seeking the origin and date of particular sets by comparing allresults. The results of the studies described above allowed us to establish a typologyof techniques and materials used in Tibetan book production and to make linksbetween different sets of Bka’ ’gyur editions. This should be taken intoconsideration when making judgments about the technical identity of a same-setedition and also when identifying the relation between a master copy on which thenext edition of Bka’ ’gyur is modeled and this edition.

The Technical Identity of Berlin Wanli Bka’ ’gyur Volumes inCracowThe documentation and research carried out on particular volumes shows a varietyof techniques and materials used, with such pieces of information allowing us tomake links between volumes and to group them based on the technical identity ofthe edition. How do we deine the style of a hundred-volume set? It should beremembered that scribes, carvers, and artists who directly created particular volumeshad very strict standards for their work. Assuming that the expectations were metand the rules were followed they should have been able to create uniied editionof Bka’ ’gyur and accumulate spiritual merit for their work. The spiritual meritgrew larger in proportion to the level of effort, care, and quality of materials used.This is why any individual elements in the creation of Bka’ ’gyur volumes werereduced and differences as well as exceptions were rather associated withimperfections in skills, not with aspirations for being an individual artist.

Figure 5: The Wanli Bka’ ’gyur volume 24 in thepothi (dpe cha) format.

The general style of an editionderives fromwooden blocks; however,different editions may be printed fromthe same wooden blocks. In this case,the types of materials and techniquesused for the books’ preparation deinea set. However, classiication becomesextremely complicated when weconsider many re-editions, reprints,and only fragmentary copies made

of Conservation, Book and Paper Group, ed. Shulla Jaques (London 2007: Institute of Conservation),247-256.22 Dard Hunter, Papermaking, The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft (New York: Dover

Publications 1978); on Tibetan printing, writing, and so forth, see pp. 111–114, 170, 180, 240.


from wooden blocks used sometimes for hundreds of years. Many aspects of thisproblem can be resolved with the help of historical sources, but some can beanswered only by penetrating observation of every volume. What appears at irstto our perception when looking at books are format and size.23 The format of Bka’’gyur volumes is pothi (po ti), which is the most typical format of Tibetan books(Fig. 5). The character of Tibetan books is unique, and is closely related to TibetanBuddhist culture and the history of books in Inner Asia (closely related to thehistory of Tibetan language and literature inspired by late Indian Buddhist culture).Tibetan traditional books are called with more than one term (dpe cha, glegs bam,or deb thar) and should be considered to be a kind of homage paid by Tibetans totheir Indian masters and teachers, the content and form being directly inspired bythe traditional Indian palm-leaf books called grantha or later pustaka.24 Despitethe Indian origin of Tibetan books, they were written not on palm leaves as are theIndian pustaka, but on birch bark and paper; and they were not joined with a string.However, their page shape is similar to that of a palm leaf and so Tibetan booksmade of loose leaves are also called pothi. Tibetan scribes did alter the size of thepage, largely because they were using materials different from palm leaves. It isa little tricky to deine binding variants in the case of loose leaves books. However,the term “bookbinding” is usually understood as the process of physicallyassembling a book from a number of folded or unfolded sheets of paper or othermaterial and relects a general qualiication for the variation, whether of bookstructure, color, fabric, lettering, or decoration, between different copies of thesame edition of a book cased in publisher’s cloth.25 Tibetan pothi format elementsof binding include: leaves (one or a few layered papers), cloth (cotton, silk, andpossibly brocade) or fabric cover, labels (cloth and brocade), and covers (wood,wood and metal itting, layered paper, and cloth). Even within the same pothi bookformats, various types of techniques and materials, such as one-layer ormulti-layered papers or different elements of binding style, were found. Since mostparts of this type of binding are separated and easy to replace, loose leavesconstruction of a book can pose limitations to the uniication of the binding style.

In the case of the books preserved in Cracow, most volumes consist only ofleaves, and other parts of the binding have not been preserved, excepting thewooden covers in the case of volume 58. The size of book leaves usually variedso they can also be a distinctive feature of the technical identity of one edition.The volumes from the Pander collections have two sizes: most of the leavesmeasure23.8-24.5 centimeters in leaf height and 68.5 centimeters in leaf length (width)

23 The term “format” in the most general way is deined as “the shape and size of a book.” In abibliographical context it is used to indicate the structure of a volume in terms of the number of timesthe original printed sheet has been folded to form its constituent leaves.24 The text of Indian books was written with a wooden pen or drawn with a sharp stick on the surface

of the leaf; ink rubbed on the leaf remained in the scored depressions. The leaves were joined togetherby a string loosely threaded through holes in the middle of the text, like beads, and put together into apile. In this form they were placed between two boards. The string was attached to the wooden boards.25 John Carter and Nicolas Barker, ABC for Book Collectors (Oak Knoll Press and British Library

2004, Eighth Edition), 41.


and nine volumes are slightly larger, with leaves 25-25.5 by 71 centimeters (vol.29-37 & 58). The Yongle folio preserved in Michigan (pothi format) measures24.2-24.5 by 68.7-69 centimeters, which is very close to most of the volumes fromthe Pander collection (vol. 23-28, 38-57, and 59-60). The volumes from the HarvardYenching Library measure 24 by 68.5 centimeters. All volumes are very close insize, but that is deinitely not enough to classify them as a set.

Figure 7: The page outline of Wanli volume 26,folio 2 preserved in Jagiellonian UniversityLibrary in Cracow.

Figure 6: The page outline of Yongle folio 12,recto side from Uiversity of Michigan Library.

Figure 8: The text fragment from volume 58 fromthe Pander Pantheon, characterized by therectangular shape of the upper part (line) of text.

The page outline is especiallyimportant — this relects the printfeatures readable fromwooden blocks,and allows for grouping andidentiication. This is why a preciselymeasured page outline is vital. Thenumber of text lines on a page, size ofthe frame outlining the text, distancesbetween text lines, type of script,proportions of letters, and carving style(tool traces) were examined. Allstudied volumes are written in Tibetanprinted letters (dbu can), but the proportions and carving style of letters differ inparticular volumes. The Yongle folio from Michigan and thirty-six volumes fromthe Pander Pantheon collection (vol. 23-60) contain eight lines of text on a page,and a printing area limited by two side margins in a distance 58-59 centimeters.The volumes from the Harvard Yenching Library contain six lines of text on apage within a printing area width of 58.5-59 centimeters. The only volume with afull rectangular frame enclosing the text is volume 58 from the Pander Pantheonin Cracow. The distance between upper lines of text in the Pander volumes andthe Michigan folio are the same: 1.5-1.7 centimeters, but the text lines distance inthe Yenching Library volumes is 2.1-2.3 centimeters. Tibetan foliation on the leftmargins and Chinese pagination (on the recto and verso sides on the right margins)appear in the Yongle folio and Pander volumes 23-60, but in the Yenching volumesthere is Tibetan and Chinese pagination on both recto and verso sides of the leaves.In volume 37 from the Pander Pantheon the length (width) of a wooden block wasreadable on a folio 12 up to 14 (64.5-65 centimeters) and this was repeated indifferent volumes as well. The page outline of the Yongle folio from Michiganand the Pander volumes 23-28, 38-57, and 59-60 from Cracow meet one setrequirements (Fig. 6 & 7). The letters’ proportions and characteristics conirm this


classiication by page outline. Regarding carving style and tool traces, I couldobserve the slightly rounded parts of letters forming the upper part (line) of letters– an upper part closer to a triangle distinguishes the shape of the Wanli/Yongleeditions from the rectangular shape of later editions. This is due to the rounded-typeof chisel used. In fact, this feature appears in all studied volumes excepting volume58 from the Pander Pantheon (Fig. 8). However, this kind of ingerprinting cangive information about the workshop and area in which the book was made ratherthan about edition – different editions could be printed in the same area or evenworkshop and not be the same set.

Figure 10: The fragment of text from volume 26of the Pander Pantheon printed in black ink.This ink is exactly within the outline of embossedletters.

Figure 9: The fragment of the Yongle folioprinted in red ink. The ink spreads out of theletter outline printed in the paper visible on thepicture.

Also, one of the differences is the slightly thicker letters in the Yongle foliowhen compared to the Wanli. This can be explained by considering the qualityand type of materials used. The Yongle folio is printed in red ink on more absorbentpaper than the Pander volumes, in which ink spreads out of the embossed letteroutline (Fig. 9). Additionally, the black ink has different properties, and that iswhy this ink is exactly within the outline of embossed letters (Fig. 10). In fact, theoutline of the letters in Yongle (red) and Wanli (black) is very much the same.Some tiny dimensional differences are not signiicant due to the essence of thexylography type of printing. If we want to make links between letters in xylographywe have to remember that the essence of this technique is an overlap of thehandwriting style of the scribe and skills of the carver (including personal characterand type of tools used). In fact, xylography was never freely styled. In the irststage of work the text was carefully designed following calligraphy rules withrespect to the proportions of the letters. When the text was ready for the edition,the scribes wrote it on thin paper and later transferred it to the surface of woodenblocks with all text within an outline, such as frames. Some differences in the sizeof the letters depend on the scribe’s decision about which part of the text shouldit on one page.


Figure 12: The fore-edges paintings (shorteredge) on volume 25 from the Pander Pantheonare repeated in twenty-two volumes in Cracow(vol. 23-28, vol. 38-46, vol. 48, 50-57, vol. 60).

Figure 11: The fore-edges paintings (longeredge) on volume 27 from the Pander Pantheonare repeated in twenty-two volumes in Cracow(vol. 23-28, vol. 38-46, vol. 48, 50-57, vol. 60).

Figure 13: The fore-edges paintings showing thekīrtimukha (the face of glory) ornament against ared background from volume 47. This type is alsorepresented by two other volumes (49 and 59).

The Yongle folio has traces of redpaint on the edges, but since there isjust one folio I do not have moreinformation about painting on edges.The coloring of fore-painted edges inall other volumes is quite close to eachother in style. The shade of red in thebackground and also particular

patterns and ornaments exist within all volumes; however, particular volumepaintings are deinitely not identical. The twenty-two volumes in Cracow (vol.23-28, vol. 38-46, vol. 48, 50-57, and vol. 60) are painted on long side edges inthe same style with eleven lowers containing twelve blue petals and six greenleaves (resembling lotus lowers; Fig. 11). In the central part of the shorter sideedge there is a halo on the lotus lower petals with a Chinese inscription in gold.The opposite shorter side edge contains the Chinese and Tibetan text completedwith a 2.5 centimeter column ornament along each corner (Fig. 12). The secondtype of edge painting is represented by eight volumes (vol. 29-37) and contains alower ornament on the red background and a precious jewel in lames on theshorter side edges. The third type represented by three volumes (vol. 47, 49, and59) shows a kīrtimukha (the face of glory) ornament against the red background(Fig. 13).26And again, volume 58 (Size: 24.2 by 71.5 centimeters) from the PanderPantheon differs from others by type of ornament; however, the coloring is notmuch different. The edges of the two Harvard volumes are painted exactly in thesame style as twenty-two other volumes from the Pander collection whichsupposedly are the Wanli supplement (Pander Pantheon: volumes 1-22) – with alower ornament painted on the edges resembling lotus lowers. There are threeof these lowers on both sides with four petals, and small auspicious symbols inthe central part between the lowers. The ornament on the corners (1.5-2centimeters) is hardly visible; only its green color is noticeable. Chinese characters(sketched in a stūpa shape or as a Buddha halo on lotus lowers) on the side edges

26 Robert Beer, The Handbook of Tibetan Buddhist Symbols (Boston 2003), 78-79.


resemble those from the Pander volumes. The style of fore-edge paintings27 suggestsa Chinese origin; however, this is preliminary research, which will be continued.The present results allow for the conclusion that the variations in those paintingscannot identify the edition (set). Fore-edges painting seem to be rather moreconnected to text content, and can differ between parts of Bka’ ’gyur volumes ofthe same edition.

PaperThe common view about study of the paper type, size, and quality in Tibetan booksis that paper is not very useful as a source of information for identifying a book,as is pointed out by Jonathan A. Silk: “The quality and size of the paper, and eventhe color of the ink used, tell us nothing; it is quite easy to change these whileprinting from the same set of blocks, thus producing exactly the same contents.”28I understand that it is dificult to disagree with such a seemingly obvious truth, butthe beginning of consistent research on the paper supports a different view. Oneof the reasons why this source of information has been underestimated is lack ofcooperation between disciplines (Tibetan studies are dificult to approach by paperhistorians and other specialists without a background in Tibetan culture andlanguage) and also lack of clear terminology to describe the paper in works of art.Without clear terminology the study of paper can feel irrelevant for those who arenot specialists. This is why before sharing my results I would like to say a fewwords regarding a proposal for terminology. I have three levels of criteria for thetypology of paper in Tibetan books: rawmaterial used, technology of papermaking(type of papermaking mould), and preparation of leaves before writing or printing.The irst mentioned criterion allows for distinguishing Tibetan type of paper byexamination of raw material used for paper production. In Tibet Thymelaeaceaefamily plants were used for making paper.29 This makes Tibetan paper verydistinctive from Chinese one composed of varieties of plants, such as ramie, papermulberry, hemp, bamboo, straw, and many others.30 The second criterion allowsfor typology regarding differences in technology – here, handmade woven paper,

27 This refers to any decoration on the fore-edges of the leaves of a book.28 Silk, “Notes on the History,” 153-200.29 Hunter, Papermaking; Richard Othon Meisezahl, “Bemerkungen zu Tibetischen Handschriften

des 17.-19. Jahrhunderts im Institut für Cellulosechemie der Technischen Hochschule Darmstad,”Forschungsstelle Papier geschichte. Herausgegeben vom Verein der zellstoff- und Papier-Chemikerund –Ingenieure Jahrgang 8 no. 2 (1958): 17-28; Jasper Trier, Ancient Paper of Nepal. Result ofethno-technological ield work on its manufacture, uses and history – with technical analyses of bast,paper and manuscripts (Copenhagen 1972: Jutland Archaeological Society Publications Volume X);Elaine Koretsky, “Papermaking Today in Tibet and China,”Hand Papermaking no. 1 (1986); AgnieszkaHelman-Ważny, “Tibetan Historic Manuscripts as a Source of Information on Past Papermaking inInner Asia,” In IPH Congress Book 2005, 27-37; Agnieszka Helman-Ważny, “Asian Paper in Worksof Art: a Comparative Fiber Analysis,” Handmade Paper 21 no. 2 (2006): 3-9.30 Dard Hunter, Old Papermaking in China and Japan (Ohio 1932); Hunter, Papermaking;

Tsuen-Hsuin Tsien, “RawMaterials for Old Papermaking in China,” in Journal of the American OrientalSociety 93, no. 4 (1973): 510-519; Tsuen-Hsuin Tsien, Paper and Printing. Science and Civilisationin China, ed. Joseph Needham (Cambridge 1985); Floyd Alonzo McClure, Chinese Handmade Paperwith a preface by Elaine Koretsky (Newtown 1986).


handmade laid paper,31 and machine-made paper can be distinguished. Since wegenerally know the area range of using the particular type of papermaking mouldand differences in papermaking technology (sheet formation), we can mark off theregion of a book’s origin on the basis of this identiication. It will still be quite awide region, but by comparing with the two other criteria we can be much moreprecise. The third level of criteria regarding the preparation of leaves includesconstruction of the leaf and visual properties of its surface, such as dying the paper(or introducing insect-repellant substances, which also change the color of rawpaper), sizing the paper, gluing of layers (howmany), and polishing of the surface.This level of criteria especially shows the difference between paper prepared formanuscripts and prints.

Figure 15: The ibers of paper mulberryidentiied in the Yongle folio undermagniication 600X.

Figure 14: The ibers of paper mulberryidentiied in the Yongle folio undermagniication 150X.

Figure 17: The ibers of paper mulberryidentiied in volume 23 from the PanderPantheon under magniication 300X.

Figure 16: The ibers of paper mulberryidentiied in volume 23 from the PanderPantheon under magniication 150X.

What is written above is only a brief introduction about paper used for theYongle folio from Michigan, the Wanli volumes at the Jagiellonian Library inCracow, and the Wanli supplement volumes at the Harvard Yenching Library. The

31 Mark van Staalduinen, Jan C.A. van der Lubbe, Eric Backer, Pavel Paclik, “Paper Retrieval Basedon Speciic Paper Features: Chain and Laid Lines,” inMultimedia Content Representation, Classiicationand Security, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, eds. Bilge Gunsel, et al. (Berlin Heidelberg 2006),346-353.


Yongle folio is written on very thin Chinese type paper with visible tiny laid lines(nine or ten in one centimeter) composed of paper mulberry ibers (Fig. 14 & 15),glued together in many layers (six or more), and made with a dipping techniqueby using a paper-making mould with a movable type of sieve. Chain lines werehardly visible due to the gluing of many layers of relatively soft and absorbentpaper together. The paper used for volumes of the Pander Pantheon fromBerlin/Cracow is very thin Chinese type paper with visible tiny laid lines (eight inone centimeter and ive or six in one centimeter) glued together in many layers(six or more) and composed of paper mulberry ibers (Fig. 16 & 17).32 The sheetswere done the same way as in the previous case with a dipping technique and byusing a paper-makingmould with a movable type of sieve. Chain lines were hardlyvisible due to the gluing of many layers of paper together, but were still possibleto observe. However, there are some differences between paper types in particularvolumes. Most of the volumes contain laid paper characterized by eight laid linesin one centimeter. Only volumes from the Prajñāpāramitā section (vol. 29-37) arewritten on paper characterized by ive or six laid lines in one centimeter. In volume28 (eight laid lines in one centimeter) it was possible to measure the distancesbetween chain lines as follows: 3cm-2cm-3cm-2cm-2.5cm-2.5cm-2.5cm-2.5cm.

Figure 19: The ibers of paper mulberryidentiied in volume 60 (table of contents) fromthe Pander Pantheon under magniication 600X.

Figure 18: The ibers of paper mulberryidentiied in volume 60 (table of contents) fromthe Pander Pantheon under magniication 150X.

32 Fiber examinations were done by an author of this article at the Department of Plant Biology,Cornell University.


Figure 20: The ibers of paper mulberry and strawidentiied in volume 58 from the Pander Pantheonvisible under magniication 150X.

Results of this study show clearlythat themouldwith amovable bamboosieve characterized by laid and chainlines in a inger-print pattern asdescribed above was used to producepaper for the Wanli Bka’ ’gyur. Thattype of mould with such a ine laidlines was not used in Tibet, whichconirms the Chinese origin of thepaper. The Chinese origin of the paperis also conirmed by its ibercomposition, the papermulberry iberswhich compose most of the volumes,and the fact that bamboo and straw are typically Chinese components. I couldobserve differences in the quality of paper (three grades), such as that the bestquality (longest) ibers were used for volume 60, the table of contents (dkar chag),and the worst with small additions of other ibers for volumes 29-37, which containthe Prajñāpāramitā texts (Fig. 18 & 19). The volumes of the Tantra (Rgyud) sectionwere made on medium quality paper. The exception is volume 58, in which thestructure is hardly visible, but I could identify the paper components as three typesof cells in its structure: paper mulberry iber cells (short cut), pitted wood/bambootrachaids or vessels stained by Herzberg stain with blue-gray, and narrow strawibers with pointed ends stainedwith olive-gray-yellow (Fig. 20). Harvard YenchingLibrary volumes are written on paper made of paper mulberry, straw, and bamboo(Fig. 21 & 22).

Figure 22: The bamboo vessel identiied in aHarvard Yenching Library volume is visibleunder magniication 300X.

Figure 21: The ibers of paper mulberry and thebamboo vessel identiied in a Harvard YenchingLibrary volume are visible under magniication600X.

Production of the Wanli Bka’ ’gyur VolumesThe evidence of techniques and materials used within particular books allows usto read the distinctive features which could be called a style or technical identityof the edition. However, the main question to answer here is how similar particularvolumes should relate to each other to call them one set. It should be remembered


that the edition of the entire Bka’ ’gyur set, which is more than hundred volumes,has always been a very large project and great challenge for all the craftsmeninvolved.33 The printing of Bka’ ’gyur and Bstan ’gyur texts usually involvednumerous specialists of more than ten professions, such as: proof readers,woodblock carvers, paper manufacturers, carpenters, Tibetan scroll (thang ka)painters, blacksmiths, technical experts, and helpers. Also managers, secretaries,and many apprentices were involved.34 There was often an insuficient number ofhighly skilled personnel for enterprises of such a large scale, and the work itselfwas very time-consuming. That is why one needed to recruit new apprentices foreach of the tasks involved so that they could learn the necessary skills during theprocess; this way, one could avoid inancial losses. New technicians weresummoned at the time the printing was being organized in order to learn the actualwork. Once the technicians had obtained the required qualiication, they weremoved to the main workshop. A few months after beginning the printing work,many of the apprentices were fully skilled and able to work as, for example,woodblock carvers; the same approach was taken in the case of secretaries,blacksmiths, carpenters, and proofreaders. This is why the printing project of Bka’’gyur and Bstan ’gyur editions usually took years.35 The Yongle and Wanli Bka’’gyur editions were sponsored by Emperors of China, and it may thus be assumedthat highly skilled craftsmen and artists were chosen for this project. The fact thatmore technical information in the corpus of the manuscript is written in Chinesethan in Tibetan suggests that the books were printed in Peking in Chinese workshopby mostly Chinese craftsmen. They were working often without prior knowledgeof Tibetan language and culture. Thus, they needed more instruction in Chineseto conduct the printing project (for instance, to ensure the proper order of text).There is a Tibetan foliation on the left side margin (only on the recto side of theleaf)36 and Chinese pagination on the right side margin (on the recto and verso side

33 A very useful source of information about Tibetan editorial practice in the seventeenth century isthe following article: Kurtis R. Schaeffer, “Printing the Words of the Master. Tibetan Editorial Practicein the Collected Works of ’Jam dbyangs bzhad pa’i rdo rje I (1648-1721),” Acta Orientalia 1990,159-177.34 Dung dkar blo bzang ’phrin las, “Printing of Ancient Tibetan Text and Discussion of Some Related

Matters Regarding Wages and Rewards for Various Professions Connected with Printing,” TibetanStudies 1 (1990); I read this article translated into English by Lobsang Thinlay.35 Dung dkar blo bzang ’phrin las, “Printing of Ancient Tibetan Text”; For example, the eleventh

Dalai Lama, Tsangs dbyang rgya mtso, had also published a Bka’ ’gyur, concentrating mainly onPrajñāpāramitā texts (Yum rgyas, ’Bring, Bsdus). He hadmanaged, however, to print only twenty-eightvolumes in seven years. In those days highly skilled printers were able to make ive to six printingplates a month, the less talented ones three to four plates, and the remaining vast majority only one totwo pieces per month or even a single plate in case of the poorest professionals. In the days of the Snarthang Bka’ ’gyur’s printing the situation had already changed and the fastest and most skilled printerswere able to make sixteen to twenty-three plates a month, the less talented ones ten to ifteen, somecould prepare eight to twelve plates, others ive to seven, but even the poorest were able to make atleast three printing plates a month. Those twomentioned printing projects, both in the eighteenth centuryshow that the speed of printing must have been increased signiicantly at that time.36 Folio is a leaf numbered on the recto, or front; foliation is the numeral itself in a foliated book.


of the leaf).37 Considering the fact that the double side-executed leaf was printedfrom twowooden blocks or one double-side carved, in the case of the Tibetan styleof numbering the leaves (foliation) Chinese craftsmen would have a hard timeprinting the pages in proper order.

The Yongle Bka’ ’gyur was the irst large printed edition in Tibetan. In theifteenth century, during the eighth year of the reign of the Yongle Emperor, aruler of the Ming Dynasty, in 1410 – the year of the iron tiger – the Bka’ ’gyurwas published in Beijing. It is not known how many copies were printed at thattime. However, on the basis of written sources we can assume that there were atleast four – offered to the Mount Wutai monastery, Karma pa, Phag gru, and toTsong kha pa.38 Since these were the irst prints from a newly made printing block,from then on printing skills began lourishing in Tibet. Later, literary works ofdifferent scholars in various ields started being published. The next known editionfrom the Tshal pa line is the Wanli Bka’ ’gyur printed in 1606, about which weknow mostly from written sources and brief reports of travelers from Tibet andChina, who had a chance to see it, but not enough time to study it carefully. Thus,the Berlin fragment of the Wanli Bka’ ’gyur is the earliest large collection whichrecently appeared in the West and is available to study. Results of this researchshow that twenty-eight volumes (two volumes contain the same text) from thePander collection in Cracow have a page outline closely related to the folio fromthe Yongle edition in Michigan, enough to classify those volumes as the BerlinWanli Bka’ ’gyur printed from the Yongle wooden blocks preserved probably inPeking until the Wanli reign. The period of 196 years between the Yongle andWanli editions is not very long for preserving the wooden blocks.

ConclusionsThe Pander collection, which is of immense value, has been rediscovered in Poland.It contains Tibetan literary heritage formerly deemed to be lost. Thus, the mostimportant result of this research is conirmation that the Berlin Wanli Bka’ ’gyurvolumes are safely preserved in the Jagiellonian Library in Cracow.

Another important conclusion is the deinition of the concept of technicalidentity, which is crucial for understanding the needs of manuscriptology and forvery careful examination of book production, from the material side of it.

37 Pagination is understood as a sequence of igures with which the pages of a book are numbered.These are known individually as page-numerals, collectively as pagination.38 Dung dkar blo bzang ’phrin las, “Printing of Ancient Tibetan Text.”


Figure 23: The fragment of folio 1 from volume 46of the Pander Pantheon, a xylograph printedrepresentation of Rdo rje ’chang chen po (The GreatVajradhāra) described by Professor Pander as “Theoriginal in the Kanjur xylographed on Imperialorder in the 8th year of Yung-lo (1411) in China”from his collection.

Research conducted on technicalidentity helped to group particularBka’ ’gyur volumes from the Pandercollection in sets, and I hope it willmake further research much easier.Here the key question is, how manyvolumes of the Berlin Wanli Bka’’gyur are preserved in Cracow? Thisopens wider discussion about printingof the Yongle, Wanli, and Wanlisupplement Bka’ ’gyur and formaldifferences between those sets.39According to Pander he obtainedtwenty-seven volumes of the YongleBka’ ’gyur including twenty-four

volumes of Tantra and thirty-two other canonical volumes printed during the lateMing Dynasty.40 By examining the Pander statement in The Lamaist Pantheon Ican explain that he identiied Wanli volumes as the Yongle edition. The captionsto his iconographical study show clearly that exactly the same pictures as those Ifound in volume 46 are identiied by Eugen Pander as the Yongle Bka’ ’gyur (Fig.23).41 According to Helmut Eimer, thirty-eight (37 +1) volumes of the Wanli Bka’’gyur were lost during World War II. When comparing Pander’s idea about thecontent of his acquisition and sixty volumes preserved until now in the JagiellonianLibrary in Cracow, a few preliminary facts should be pointed out. The volumesare not clearly classiied within three sets as Pander informed us. For example,within sixty volumes of the Pander Pantheon, there are no volumes from the YongleBka’ ’gyur edition printed in red ink.42Mymanuscriptological study accomplishedthe classiication of the Pander Pantheon collection within sets. These are 1)twenty-eight volumes of the Wanli Bka’ ’gyur (vol. 23-28, 38-57 and 59-60), 2)twenty-two volumes of the Wanli Bka’ ’gyur supplement (vol. 1-22) technicallyrelected two volumes from Harvard-Yenching Library, and 3) ten volumes (vol.29-37 & 58) that are a “foreign body” in this collection — which was conirmedby differences in page outline, size of printing area, letter proportions, and type ofpaper used. However, volumes 29-37 are much more related to the Wanli Bka’’gyur volumes, than volume 58 which was produced deinitely later without beeingdirectly modeled on Yongle or Wanli editions.

Increasing the availability of the collection is the next task, and I hope this willbe of great signiicance for Tibetans and all scholars interested in Tibetan studies.When we ind something lost for such a long time we immediately want to know

39 Silk, “Notes on the History,” 153-200.40 Helmut Eimer, “Spurensicherung,” 27-51.41 Sushama Lohia, Lalitavajra’s Manual, 33.42 The only volume (58) printed in red ink has a text in full frame and that page outline suggests later

Ming Dynasty origin.


what happened when we were not aware of its presence. In this case I would liketo conclude with a brief summary of the Berlin fragment of the Wanli Bka’ ’gyurtimeline:

• Wooden blocks carved for Yongle Emperor before 1410 CE (the YongleBka’ ’gyur printed with red ink in 1410 CE).

• Second edition (reprint) of the Yongle Bka’ ’gyur printed with black inkfor Wanli Emperor in 1606 CE (called the Wanli Bka’ ’gyur).

• 1881-1889, Pander lived in Peking (Professor at Peking University) andobtained his book collection.

• 1889, Pander donated his collection to the EthnographicMuseum in Berlin,and later the collection was offered to Königliche Bibliothek.

• September 1, 1923, Another part of the Wanli Bka’ ’gyur reached Japan,and was lost in the Great Tokyo Earthquake.

• 1941-44, Germans hide the collection to protect it from bombs.• 1941-45, the books along with other “Berlinka” collections were hidden

in 505 boxes placed in the Silesian Castle Fürstenstein (nowadays Książ)and later moved to Cistercian Brothers Monastery Grüssau (nowadaysKrzeszów). According to the Potsdam Conference Lower Silesia becamepart of Poland.

• 1946-7, the Pander books were found by Polish librarians and located inthe Jagiellonian University Library.

• 1947-1977, the Pander books were secretly stored in the JagiellonianLibrary storage area next to the manuscript of the Ninth Symphony ofBeethoven and German National Anthem, which were also part of theBerlinka.

• Since 1977, ownership of the Berlinka collection has been a point ofdissension between Poland and Germany.

• 2003, I found Pander books during the search for Tibetan books in Polandwhile collecting material for my Ph.D. dissertation.

• 2007-2009, the project: “The Lost Fragment of the Wanli Kanjur in theJagiellonian Library? The Value of Authenticity of Tibetan Books fromthe Pander Collection in Poland” was funded by the Polish Ministry ofScience, and thanks to this support, together with my colleagues from theFaculty of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw, Prof. MarekMejor andDr. Thupten Kunga Chashab, we have a chance to continue working onthis valuable collection.

The Wanli Bka’ ’gyur from Berlin is an important part of the world heritageand should not be subject to political machincations today, some seven decadesafter the last World War.

Acknowledgements: I am very grateful to many institutions and people whichhelped me during this research. First, my gratitude is directed to the JagiellonianUniversity Library in Cracow, the Polish Ministry of Science, the University ofMichigan Department of Asian Languages and Cultures and Special Collections


Library in Ann Arbor, the Sanskrit and Indian Studies Department at HarvardUniversity, Harvard-Yenching Library in Cambridge, and the State Library inBerlin. I would like to thank Mr. Burkhard Quessel (British Library) for hisencouragement of this very special approach to “Bka’ ’gyur studies,” and alsoProf. Dr. hab. Zdzislaw Pietrzyk (Jagiellonian University and JagiellonianUniversity Library), Dr. Monika Jaglarz (Jagiellonian University Library), Prof.Dr. hab. Marek Mejor (University of Warsaw), Dr. Thupten Kunga Chashab(University of Warsaw), Prof. Dr. James Robson (Harvard University), Dr. PeggyDaub (University of Michigan), Shanon Zachary (University of Michigan), Prof.Dr. Leonard van der Kuijp (Harvard University), Dr. Orna Almogi (University ofHamburg), Dr. Dorji Wangchuk (University of Hamburg), and Dr. Michael Balk(Berlin State Library) for their kind help and constant support.


GlossaryNote: these glossary entries are organized in Tibetan alphabetical order. All entrieslist the following information in this order: THL Extended Wylie transliterationof the term, THL Phonetic rendering of the term, the English translation, theSanskrit equivalent, the Chinese equivalent, other equivalents such as Mongolianor Latin, associated dates, and the type of term.

Ka

TypeDatesOtherEnglishPhoneticsWylie

PersonKarmapakarma pa

Termtable of contents,catalogue

karchakdkar chag

Title collectionKangyurbka’ ’gyur

Ga


Termvolume of scripture,book, manuscript,boards-what isgathered

lekbamglegs bam

TermSan. tantragyürgyud

Ca


Person1717-1786Changkya HotoktuRölpé Dorjé

lcang skya ho thog thurol pa’i rdo rje

Ta


Title collectionTengyurbstan ’gyur

Tha


TermTibetan scrollpainting

tangkathang ka

Da


Termstiched bookteptardeb thar

Title collectionDübsdus

Na


PlaceNartangsnar thang

Pa


TermSan. pothibook formatpotipo ti

Termvolume,Tibetan-style book

pechadpe cha


http://www.thlib.org/reference/transliteration/#essay=/thl/ewts/

http://www.thlib.org/reference/transliteration/#essay=/thl/phonetics/

Pha


ClanPakdruphag gru

ClanPakmodruphag mo gru

Ba


Termprinted letters,headed letters, typeof Tibetan script

uchendbu can

Title collectionDring’bring

Tsa


Person1357-1419Fifteenth centuryfounder of Dge lugspa school

Tsongkhapatsong kha pa

Tsha


Title collectionFragments, pieces,native of tsal

Tselpatshal pa

Ya


Title collectionYumgyéyum rgyas

Ra


MountainChi. Wutai ShanFive PlateauMountain, WutaiMountain

Riwotsé Ngari bo rtse lnga

Sanskrit

TypeDatesSanskritEnglishPhoneticsWylie

Termgranthabook

Termkīrtimukhaface of glory

Textual GroupPrajñāpāramitā

Termpustakabook, volume,scriptures

Termstūpa

Chinese

TypeDatesChineseEnglishPhoneticsWylie

Person1522-1567

Jiajing

DynastyMing

PlaceNanjing

DynastyQing

PersonWanli

MonasteryYonghegong

PersonYongle


Other


Bookcollection

Pol. Berlinka

OrganizationPol. BibliotekaUniwersytetuJagiellońskiego

JagiellonianUniversity Library

MonasteryGer. CistercianBrothers MonasteryGrüssau

TermRus. dvoryanstvoRussian nobility

OrganizationGer. Früher auchPreußischeStaatsbibliothek

Place1660-1772Pol. InlantyPolish Livonia

OrganizationGer. KöniglicheBibliothek

PlacePol. KrakówCracow

MonasteryPol. Krzeszów

BuildingPol. Książ

Organization1796-1918Rus. Лифляндскаягуберния

Governorate ofLivonia

OrganizationGer. Museum fürVölkerkunde

EthnographicMuseum

OrganizationGer. PreußischeStaatsbibliothek

Prussian StateLibrary

BuildingGer. Silesian CastleFürstenstein

OrganizationGer.Staatsbibliothek zuBerlin

TermPol. szlachtaPolish-Lithuaniannobility

ScientiicName

Lat. Thymelaeaceae

TextGer. ZauberlöteMagic Flute


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Documents

lostwanli bka gyur

berlinwanli bka gyur

particular bka gyur

fragment of thewanli

fragments of bka gyur

berlin wanlibka gyur

pander collection insets

tothe pander collection