The Archaeology of Tibetan Books

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 The Archaeology
o f Tibetan Books

BY
AG N I E S Z K A HELMAN - W A Z N Y

BRILL
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

V O LUM E 3 6

The titles published in this series are listed at briil.com/btsi

Cover illustration: Monks reciting books at Bya mang po in Western Tibet. Photo by author, June 2013.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
IIelman-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 ะacid-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

This publication has been typeset in the multilingual ‘Brill’ typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering
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,
without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided
that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive,
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 o f 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 o f 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 o f 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 o f the
British Library 225
Appendix 2 Features o f Paper in Selected Sets o f Tibetan
Kanjur 252
Appendix 3 Transcription o f 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 o f the
Library o f 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 1have 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 w arm est thanks to T ibetologist colleagues w ith w hom
1 could always discuss ideas related to Tibetan books. 1 thank Dr. Hildegard Diem berger
(University o f Cam bridge), Dr. Amy Heller ( cnrs), Dr. Kirill A lexeev (University of
St Petersburg), Dr. A lexander Zorin (Russian A cadem y o f Sciences), Dr. Elena
Pakhoutova (Rubin M useum ), Dr. Orna Alm ogi (University o f Ham burg), and Prof.
Dorji W angchuk (U niversity o f 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!
List of Illustrations
FIGURE CAPTION

1 Wood-working tool traces observed in uv light on the book cover 16

2 Dating of a wooden cover. The edge of the plank with a visible tree-ring
structure 20
3a, b, c, d Fibers of Daphne or Edgeworthia sp. observed under microscope in
polarized light 25
4a, b Steltera chamaejasme fibers observed under microscope in polarized
light 27
5‘%b Fibers of Ramie (Boehmeria sp.) stained with Herzberg from Tibetan
Dunhuang manuscripts (iOLTib J 1254 and iOLTib J 1357) observed under
a microscope in polarized light at 6oox magnification 28
6a, b Fibers of paper mulberry (Broussonetia sp.) found in a Tibetan scroll (iol
Tib J 1560, vol. 85 bi-f. 2) from China’s Dunhuang caves under a
microscope in polarized light 29
7 Paper mulberry fiber and its separated primary wall observed by SEM in
6oox magnification 30
8 Thick-walled hemp fiber from a raw plant colored with Flerzberg stain
and observed under a microscope in polarized light at 200X
magnification 31
9a, b Woven paper made with floating type of papermaking mold 34
10 Laid paper made with movable type of papermaking mold 37
11 Embossed stamp with inscription: OaôpHKa HacjieflHHKOB CyMKHHa
(factory of Sumkin’s heirs) found on the machine-made paper of the
Tibetan manuscript 38
12 Embossed stamp with inscription: <ha6pHKH FbiaTyHOBa (factories of
Platunov) found on the machine-made paper of the Tibetan
manuscript 39
13a, b Cross-section of Daphne bast tissue, a. Irregular fiber walls and lumens
visible on cross-section under a microscope observed at 1200X
magnification, b. Starch in Daphne identified in fluorescence observed
at 1800X magnification 41
14 Highly sized and polished surface of a paper made of Thymeleaceae
family plants fibers in Tibetan manuscript 45
15 Tibetan Prajhàparâmità manuscripts used as an element of a ritual
ensuring a good harvest in Kyirong Valley, Western Tibet 48
16 Pothi book on palm leaves 50
XII LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

17 Typical Tibetan pothi format books in Braga M onastery, Nepal 54

18 T ibetan pothi form at book wrapped in cloth 54
19 Loose w ood en book cover originally from Tibetan book 57
20 Palm -leaf pothi book with covers w hich have h oles through w hich a
single binding cord was drawn and knotted on their outer sides 57
21 A seven teen th century handw ritten London Selkar (Set dkar) Kanjur
( or 6724) 58
22 Large pothi format the Tibetan Book of the Dead 59
23 Concertina-format of Sino-Tibetan books from the Pander
Collection 61
24 Format of unfolded Tibetan historical document 62
25a, b Tibetan stitched book on paper from Dunhuang (iol Tib J 401) 64
26a, b Sino-Tibetan stitched book on paper from Dunhuang
(IOL Tib J 530) 65
27a, b, c, d The Tibetan manuscript written in dbu med script, made of pothi leaves
folded in half, and stitched with red thread (or 15193) 66
28 A small prayer printed in Tibetan language and found in Khara Khoto
(Kh-Tib.67) 68
29a, b, c Bound book written in gold with Tibetan religious text from Bhutan
(ms 13162) 70
30a, b Bound manuscript composed of four gatherings and stitched with linen
cord (cc 114-115) 72
31a, b, c, d Tibetan bound manuscript composed of four gatherings (bl 14727
1-2) 73
32a, b, c, d Bound manuscript of four gatherings written on one-layered paper
(cc 101) 74
33 Text printed in gold on blue paper imitating an aesthetic of writing in
gold on indigo dyed paper 78
34 Verso side of a wooden cover wrapped with paper dyed indigo with two -
silk curtains attached to it at the top (or 15190) 83
35 The internal frontispiece of a book with the silk curtains attached at the
top (OR 15190) 83
36 Verso of the inner cover of the Tibetan manuscript of the Prajnâpâramitâ,
Sherabkyi Paroitu Chinpa written in gold on black-inked paper from
Western Tibet, Fifteenth century (2006.028a,b) 84
37 Illuminated inner cover written in gold on black-inked paper and made
of layered paper joined together with leather strips/clasps.
Prajnâpâramitâ Cover and Frontispiece (2006.028a,b) 84
38 Illuminated inner cover written in gold on layered black-inked paper
mounted with leather or paper strips Prajnâpâramitâ Cover and
Frontispiece (2006.028a,b) 85
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XIII

39 The front page o f Tibetan Selkar (sel dkar) Kanjur (or 6724) 87
40 Text written in ‘raised gold’ technicjue on the front page o f volum e 65 of
Tibetan Selkar (sel dkar) Kanjur ( or 6724) 87
41 Front page decorated with ornamented frames in volume 65 of the
Tibetan Selkar (set dkar) Kanjur (or 6724) 88
42a, b Miniatures mounted on the front page of volume 65 of Tibetan Selkar (.sel
dkar) Kanjur (or 6724) 88
43 The curtains stitched together on the bottom corners and attached on the
top with three leather clips on the verso of the front page of Tibetan
Selkar (sel dkar) Kanjur (or 6724) 89
44 Frontispiece of the Tibetan manuscript of the Prajnâpâramitâ, Sherabkyi
Paroltu Chinpa from Western Tibet, Fifteenth century
(2006.028a,b) 90
45 Verso of the inner cover of the Tibetan manuscript of the Prajnâpâramitâ,
Sherabkyi Paroltu Chinpa from Western Tibet, Fifteenth century
(ET 77) 90
46 Frontispiece of the Tibetan manuscript of the Prajnâpâramitâ, Sherabkyi
Paroltu Chinpa from Western Tibet, Fifteenth century ( et 77) 91
47 Illuminated fourteenth-century manuscript in gold ink on a black
background from Western Tibet 92
48 Illuminated manuscript ’phags pa shes rab kyi pha roi tu phyin pa rdo rje
good pa written in gold ink on a black background (m ap 4323) 92
49 Front page from manuscript describing the life of Gshen rab mi bo in gold
and silver ink and illuminations representing four stupas on both
sides 93
50 Illuminated manuscript with text from the Diamond Sutra written in gold
ink on a black background (dsb 1) 93
51 Linear sketch of a dragon in Tibetan bound manuscript (skaz
1813) 95
52 The manuscript (the Lotus Sutra) features passages of text marked with
gold ink among silver written text 97
53 The manuscript with passages of text marked with gold ink among silver
written text that features a golden triangle composed of gold-written
words 98
54 Yellow scribal guidelines differentiating a manuscript from a print in the
Tibetan Selkar (sel dkar) Kanjur 99
55 Edgeworthia/Daphne sp. fibers at 50X magnification observed in polarized
light in Tibetan Prajnâpâramitâ volume from the Bicher temple in Dolpo,
Nepal 105
XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ร6 Edgeworthia/Daphne sp. fiber at 200X m agnification observed in polar­

ized light in the Tibetan Prajnâpâramitâ from the Bicher tem ple, Dolpo,
N epal 106
57 Daphne/Edgeworthia sp. fibers at 150X m agnification observed in
polarized light. Tibetan Selkar Kanjur 106
58 Daphne/Edgeworthia sp. fibers stained olive-grey with Herzberg at 6oox
magnification observed in polarized light. Tibetan Selkar Kanjur 107
59 Broussonetia sp. fibers at soxmagnification in the Tibetan vertical scroll
from Dunhuang (Dx 178) 109
60 Broussonetia sp. fibers stained reddish with Herzberg in 200X
magnification in the Tibetan vertical scroll from Dunhuang
(Dx 178) 109
61 Stellera chamaejasme {re Icag pa) fibers with wide-irregular lumen and
narrow cell-walls at 6oox magnification observed in polarized light in the
Tibetan manuscript of Prajnâpâramitâ, Sherabkyi Paroltu Chinpa 111
62 Edgeworthia/Daphne sp. and Stellera chameajasme fibers at 6oox
magnification observed in polarized light in manuscript from Western
Tibet 112
63 Edgeworthia/Daphne sp. and Stellera chameajasme fibers at 6oox
magnification observed in polarized light in manuscript from Western
Tibet 112
64 Daphne/Edgeworthia sp. and Stellera sp. fibers at 200X magnification from
one of the prayer pages of the Prajnâpâramitâ volumes 113
65 Daphne/Edgeworthia sp. fibers at 200X magnification observed in
polarized light in one of the prayer pages of the Prajnâpâramitâ volumes
from the Bicher sanctuary, roughly dated to the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries 114
66 Tibetan book printed in the 1960s in India using lithography 118
67 An example of a block print from Turfan in Uighur language executed in
six vertical text lines per page on a single-layered, woven type of paper
(บ 4753) 120
68 Volume of The Kalachakra Tantra printed from woodblocks carved for the
funeral ceremonies of Kublai Khan (1215-1294) sponsored by Kublai
Khan’s wife and son (tbrc พ 4CZ75) 124
69 A fragment of folio from The Kalachakra Tantra printed from old
woodblocks that were carved for the funeral ceremonies of the Kublai
Khan (1215-1294) under the sponsorship of Kublai Khan’s wife and son
(tbrc พ 4CZ75) 124
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XV

70 Fragment of a w oodblock for Narthang M onastery prepared for carving

by craftsm an from N yem o 128
71 Fragment of a w oodblock for Narthang M onastery being carved by
craftsm an from N yem o 128
72a, b Recto and verso side o f folio 12 o f the Yongle Kanjur volum e 138
73a, b The miniatures of the Wanli Supplement volume’s cover depict the
Emperor, and the Tibetan master, in the lower outer corners (TTib 1803.7
13 vol. 2) 141
74 The verso of the Wanli Supplement volume’s cover (TTib 1803.7 *3
vol. 2) 142
75 The fragment of the Yongle cover of Tibetan Kanjur (originally Sera
Monastery set) containing a curved seal on its verso side (et 107) 143
76 The fragment of the Yongle cover of Tibetan Kanjur (originally the Sakya
Monasteiy set preserved later in Potala, Lhasa) containing a curved seal
on its verso side (et 87) 144
77a, b Microscopic view of sandal wood in the Sakya type cover of the Yongle
Tibetan Kanjur from the collection of Arthur Leeper 145
78 The cover of the Yongle Tibetan Kanjur from the Potala set (originally
Sakya Monastery set) of the Yongle Kanjur, which has a flaming jewel in
the middle flanked by four of the eight auspicious symbols, such as the
wheel of law, victory banner, two fish, and treasure vase (et 87) 146
79 The Sera copy of Yongle Kanjur with a ‘precious pearl in flames’ carved in
the middle of the top cover (et 107) 146
80 Types of painted long fore-edges in volume 54 of the Pander Collection
containing Wanli Kanjur 148
81 Types of painted short fore-edges in volume 54 of the Pander Collection
containing Wanli Kanjur 148
82 Types of painted fore-edges in volume 47 of the Pander Collection
containing Wanli Kanjur 149
83 The long fore-edges of the Wanli Supplement volumes from the Pander
Collection painted with a flower ornament against a red
background 150
84a, b Painted fore-edges in volume 1 {ka, ’dut ba, bzhi) of the Berlin Manuscript
Kanjur 151
85 Folio 3 layout of volume 26 from the Wanli set from Pander
Collection 152
86 A close-up of text in the Yongle folio 12 printed in red ink 152
87 The Berlin manuscript Kanjur page layout (folio 4, ka, ’dut ba,
bzhi) 153
XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

88 Page image from the Wanli Kanjur Supplement (TTib 1803.7 13

vol. 1) 154
89 A close-up of text in folio 3 of volume 26 from the Wanli set from Pander
Collection 155
90 The parts of headings visible in folio 4 of vol. 1 of the manuscript Kanjur
of Berlin feature a straight line of text and characteristic ‘spurs’ in the
right side of the upper part of letters such as ‘a’ ‘ka.’ 155
91 The paper mulberry fibers enveloped by a transparent membrane in
magnification 6oox magnification in the paper of Yongle folio 12 157
92 Paper mulberry and bamboo fibers composing the paper of the
Mongolian Kanjur 160
93 A large bamboo vessel at 6oox magnification in the paper of the
Mongolian Kanjur 160
94 Bamboo fibers composing the paper of the printed Mongolian Kanjur in
polarized light visible on an image at 100X magnification 161
95 Bamboo fibers composing the paper of the printed Mongolian Kanjur at
200X magnification 161
96 The Cone Kanjur acquired by Joseph Rock in 1928 and preserved in the
Library of Congress 164
97 Page outline of the Cone Kanjur folio 1 of volume 92yum (Prajnaparamita
Sutras) 165
9ร Fragment of text from volume 1 mdo (sutra) of the Cone Kanjur 166
99 Close-up of text from volume 35 ’dut ba (vinaya) of the Cone
Kanjur 167
100 Paper of the Cone Kanjur volume 108 dkar chag (index) 168
101 Paper of the Cone Kanjur in volume 1mdo (sutra) shows the presence of
paper mulberry and straw fibers in 6ox magnification 169
102 Paper of the Cone Kanjur in volume 1mdo (sutra) composed of the paper
mulberry fiber enveloped by a transparent membrane in 6oox
magnification 169
103 Page outline features of the Derge Kanjur 171
104 Woven type of paper made in a floating mold viewed against light in copy
of the Derge Kanjur 171
105 Copy of the Derge Kanjur 172
106 Daphne or Edgeworthia sp. and Stellera sp. fibers observed in polarized
light at 100X magnification in the paper of volume 77 of the Derge
Kanjur 173
107 Daphne or Edgeworthia sp. fibers observed in polarized light at 6oox
magnification in the paper of the Narthang Kanjur 176
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XVII

108 Daphne or Edgeworthia sp. fibers observed in polarized light at 6oox

magnification in the paper of the Lhasa Kanjur 177
109 Edgeworthia gardineri growing in the Khumbu region, Nepal 185
no Stellera chameajasme found in Kyirong, Western Tibet 186
111 The root of Stellera chamaejasme shown by a former papermaker in Dobe
Shang, Western Tibet 187
112 Drying process during papermaking in the Kullu Valley, Himachal
Pradesh, 1940s 192
113 The process of making paper in the Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh,
1940s 197
114 Process of shaping a sheet of paper in the Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh,
1940s 197
115 Drying process during papermaking in the Kullu Valley, Himachal
Pradesh, 1940s 198
116 A large size ‘floating’ mold, constructed with a wooden frame and
attached woven textile, placed in water (a stream) in Gyantse,
c. 1910-1920 199
117 Monks reciting books at Bya mang po in Western Tibet 202
118 Discoloration caused by animal glue used for joining several layers of
paper together in Tibetan manuscript (m ap 14136) 208
119 Discoloration caused by interaction of light and other components of
paper 210
120 Tibetan books stored in a general room at the Nyingma monastery in
Nelung, Western Tibet 214
121 The results of water damage on a book from the collection of the
Museum of Asia and Pacific in Warsaw (m ap 12385) 215
122 Collection of texts kept together as mini-library 216
123 Traditional shelving storage of books atTengboche monastery,
Nepal 217
124 Traditional shelving storage of books at Nyingma monastery in Nelung,
Western Tibet 218
125 Traditional storage of books in Namche Basar Monastery, Nepal 219
126 Tibetan scriptures abandoned in caves near Chingkar, Western
Tibet 219
127 Fragment of a scroll taken out from praying mills during conservation
treatment 222
128 Leaves of a Tibetan book (m ap 14144) restored with a leaf-casting
method 223
129 Deterioration of Tibetan gold manuscript ‘Life of Gshen rab mi bo’ caused
by components of the paints 224
XVIII LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

P H OTOG RAP IIS c RE DITS

Photographs used as illustrative materials are m ade by an author, otherwise
indicated in caption.
A uthor thanks to follow ing individuals and Institutions for perm ission to
publish photographs taken from book collections:

The British Library, London, UK

The Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA
The R.R.E. Collection (Professor Richard Ernst Collection), Winterthur,
Switzerland
The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, USA
The Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw, Poland
The Pomeranian Library in Szczecin, Poland
The National Museum in Warsaw, Poland
The Columbia University Library, New York, USA
The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala, India
The Berlin Sate Library, Germany
The Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
The Harvard Yenching Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
The Special Collections Library, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, USA
The Jagiellonian University Library, Cracow, Poland
The Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of
Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia
 CHAPTER 1

introduction

The Starting Point

In the beginning, my interest in Tibetan books was initiated by the wish to

preserve materials of Tibetan culture, w hile studying paper conservation at
the Fine Arts Academy in Warsaw, I was struck with the thought of choosing a
Tibetan book for my diploma project. I already possessed basic practical skills
to be a conservator of European books and papers and wanted to explore new
areas.
In 1997 a wood scientist and dendrochronologist at the Fine Arts Academy
in Warsaw, Dr. Tomasz Wazny, who later became my husband, proposed that I
assist his work in Nepal. This invitation is how I joined the German dendro-
chronological expedition to Mustang and Manang organized within the Nepal-
German High Mountain Archaeology Project. During the trip, I documented in
writing and photography the taking of samples from trees, fortresses, temples
and other traditional architecture, and created many photos, drawings, and
paintings of Nepalese people, landscapes, works of art and practically every­
thing that caught my eye along the way. Fascinated, I seized another chance to
go to the Khumbu region a couple of months later. Tomasz and I took a bus
from Kathmandu to Jiri and spent a large part of this trip on the roof of the bus,
looking from its height at the landscape, villages, and people who left and
entered the bus over the ten-hour drive across the 120 km route. Later, as
walked by foot from Jiri to Namche Basar, we came across Nuntala, a small vil­
lage located about three thousand meters above sea level. There I directly
observed methods of making paper in the Himalayas; as I watched, I was
reminded of methods in articles and books about the very beginning of paper­
making history. At that time I began to collect information more purposefully
and made a commitment about my future career.
Back to Polish reality for another two years I worked on the conservation of
the Tibetan Diamond Sutra from the collection of the Asia and Pacific Museum
in Warsaw, brought from Nepal by the director of the museum, Mr. Andrzej
Wawrzyniak. That work afforded me many pleasures and opportunities to
learn about the art and material culture of Tibet and Nepal. It also initiated my
long-term cooperation with the museum and its staff. Mr. Wawrzyniak, in the
past a Polish diplomat and sailor, was a magical personality; sitting in his office
with a smoking pipe, he attracted guests with many Asian curiosities that he

© KONINKI.IJKE BRILL NV, LEIDEN, 2014 I DOI 1 0 .1 1 6 3/978900 4275058_0 02

2 CHAPTER I

had collected over the years while in Nepal, Indonesia, and other Asian coun­
tries. The pleasant aroma of tobacco, incense, and various fragments of wooden
artefacts from the museum continues to waft through my mind bringing back
pleasant my memories. The chirpings of birds and cicadas—veiy unusual for
Poland— that he had brought with him from Asia enlivened his office provided
yet another source of fascination for me. Wawrzyniak even had Vietnamese
craftsmen build a small wooden temple among the trees in front of the
museum; amidst the surrounding high, grey, communist-style block buildings,
this provided a welcome oasis and respite from the hustle and bustle of
Warsaw’s busy Solec Street. Over the course of more than ten years, I enjoyed
visiting the museum regularly. After I realizing that the museum possessed a
collection of more than a hundred Tibetan and Nepalese books that very few
scholars had studied, the chance to develop this subject beckoned. This is how
the next stage of my interest in Tibetan books began. I planned to base my
doctoral dissertation on the Tibetan books preserved in Polish collections.
Aside from the above-mentioned collection of the Asia and Pacific Museum,
I was not sure whether I could find anything else; at that time, Tibetan art in
general was not catalogued in my home country. This is why my work began
with a search for other Tibetan books in Poland, usually by asking whomever
I could if he/she was aware of the existence of any books with loose leaves.
In fact, this method turned out to be the most effective way to proceed.

Borrowing the Term "Archaeology”

The term ‘archaeology of the book’ is used here in the context of studying the
physical make-up and production of a given volume. It comprises analyses of
the structures of books and an interpretation of technological aspects.
It is sometimes said that real history is based on written documents, which
implies that oral tradition is not as reliable. Even though written documents
play an important role in the study of history, important evidence comes from
a variety of sources, such as documents, artefacts, oral tradition, etc. Written
documents such as manuscripts, printed books, or inscribed pillars carry state­
ments but are also artefacts, and their physical properties can be studied using
methods similar to those used to study sculpture, painting, or common mate­
rial objects. Indeed, ignoring the non-linguistic aspects of books may deprive
us of important historical evidence.
While the history of Tibetan literature has received some attention within
Tibetan Studies, a systematic study of the physical features of books, such
as formats, binding styles, and materials, is almost completely lacking.
INTRODUCTION 3
Contributions by Cristina Scherrer-Schaub, Amy Heller, and Kurds R. Schaeffer
are notable exceptions.1 This essay is about the physical features of Tibetan
books, which exist in several formats and incorporate a wide variety of
materials.
This essay will not use the term ‘codicology’ in the context of old Tibetan
manuscripts. Codicology is related to the study of the ‘codex’, which is a bound
book. Between the second and fourth centuries, the preservation of writing in
the Latin world moved from papyrus stored in rolls to parchment stored in a
“codex,” or pages bound as books. We might say that codicology is the archaeol­
ogy of the book defined as the codex, with ‘archaeology’ understood as the
search for and interpretation of artefacts. Another reason for using the term
‘archaeology’ is that the majority of Tibetan books feature the pothi
format,
a construction of loose leaves.

Books Written in Tibetan

For the purpose of this book, the Tibetan language was the most general crite­
rion for the selection of items, and served as a starting point for a preliminary
typology of Tibetan manuscripts and printed books. The physical appearance
of Tibetan books is a result of a chain of interactions between culture, econ­
omy, art, and craftsmanship developed by communities affiliated with a vari­
ety of nations and cultures. Thus, when constructing a typology of particular
features, such as page layout, format, binding style, and materials, it is possible
to classify the majority of books into groups and relate them to particular local
‘book cultures.’ We can look at a book from many angles; with respect to physi­
cal structure alone, we can discuss ‘national scripts’, ‘national fonts’, ‘national
characteristics of book arrangement (layout), binding, material used'— each
of these features might represent different meanings. And indeed, this study
shows that Tibetan books are composed of a variety of elements (issues) that
have a multicultural character.
Also, Tibetan language has never been unified and cannot be characterized
by a common territory. The main reasons are poor economic development as
well as inconvenient transportation and communication systems. Tibet has
been scattered into four provincial prefectures and an autonomous region. The
establishment of Songcen Gampo’s Tibet did not cause language unification;
this linguistic diversity continued during the period of decentralization after1

1 For example see: Scherrer-Schaub 1999: 3-36; Scherrer-Schaub and Bonani 2002: 184-215;
Schaeffer 2009; Heller 2009:77-194.
4 CHAPTER 1

the fall of the kingdom in the ninth century— not only when Buddhism flour­
ished in Tibet but also when printing appeared. Throughout the periods during
which ancient Tibetan texts were being developed, the geographical and cli­
matic diversity of highly mountainous areas, the character of nomadic cul­
tures, and the availability of materials all conditioned the production of books
written in Tibetan.
Additionally, Tibetan and other great religious languages throughout his­
tory have served different nations at the same time. Tibetan has been used in
literature across a large area including the Himalayan regions of South Asia.
The full geographical range in which Tibetan has served as a language of learn­
ing, however, is much greater even than this. With the promulgation of Tibetan
Buddhism among the Mongols and Manchus, literary Tibetan became a com­
mon medium of communication among Central Asian Buddhists by the end of
the seventeenth century, and was used at the beginning of the twentieth cen­
tury as far west as Astrakhan, where the Volga River flows into the Caspian Sea,
and as far east as Beijing. There has been a revival of the study and use of liter­
ary Tibetan to varying degrees in Buryatia and Tuva in the present Russian
Federation, among ethnic Mongols and Yi in China, and in Mongolia itself.
This is why books written in Tibetan differ widely in their form and in materi­
als used— the various communities that used the Tibetan language did not
equally adapt all Tibetan bookmaking techniques and did not use the same
materials. The methods of each local ‘book culture’ were preferable to any out­
side standard.

Statistics in Book History

Viewed as part of world heritage, ancient books are not only vehicles for con­
tent, but also very important sources of information about technology, materi­
als used for production, and also associated art techniques. There were several
reasons for this study to be undertaken. At a micro-level, the study of individ­
ual books provides US with valuable information about a particular book and
possibly its provenance. However, from a broader perspective, the examina­
tion of many books and book fragments aids in the reconstruction of the
history of crafts connected with bookmaking, such as papermaking, ink pro­
duction, and the art of scribing. And even more broadly, the examination of
each book facilitates the collecting of evidence on book production from par­
ticular periods of time and regions in Tibet; this to enable US to understand
better the role books play in Tibetan culture. In other words, this kind of mate­
rial research, when performed on enough representative groups of books, will
set the stage for writing the history of the book in Tibet. This book presents the
INTRODUCTION 5
results of the current stage of my research with an emphasis on Tibetan manu­
scripts from Dunhuang, early printed editions of Tibetan Kanjurs, and richly
illuminated manuscripts from Western and Central Tibet.
In any kind of study of book collections, a statistical approach is important.
It is not possible to base one’s conclusions only on a small group of books taken
from an accidentally selected single collection, place, owner, etc. Statistically,
results should be presented only for particular groups of books that are drawn
from the same regional culture of book production during a unified period of
time. When attempting a reconstruction of the history of the book in Tibet, it
does not make much sense to compare books that are unrelated to each other.
Although every observation is important, individual observations can only
contribute to the database as a whole, and should not be understood as repre­
sentative of all Tibetan book history. Statistics are nearly as im portant for his­
torians and experts as information about individual items. With hundreds of
Tibetan books viewed, it becomes necessary to provide means for visualizing
the statistical properties of examined collections. Clearly, more research is
needed before this field of study can fully contribute to the reconstruction of
the history of the Tibetan book. However, I hope this book will inspire scholars
of other disciplines to contribute to such a true history based on preserved
objects.

My Fieldwork, Sources, and Experiments

While carrying out my research on Tibetan books over the course of more than
ten years, I undertook a couple of trips to Nepal, Tibet (China), and Northern
India. However, the majority of my fieldwork research was conducted in the
reading rooms and storage areas of libraries, museums, and private collections.
Through a questionnaire and detailed library research I found many interest­
ing and valuable objects; since 2000,1 have gradually studied and described a
number of Tibetan books that I have tracked down (Appendices 1-5). For sin­
gle works as well as for books from collections of various sizes, I viewed the
chosen collections on the spot and singled out particular books for detailed
research. Later, I also explored written sources, mostly secondary literature;
additionally, I supplemented this research by interviewing Tibetan artisans
and monks concerning scribing the texts (calligraphy), ink production, the cre­
ation of blue paper, carpentry, and metalworking on book covers. Interviewing
Tibetan craftsmen was an im portant component of the reconstruction of prac­
tical work, which, of course, might differ regionally. Independent of regional
differences, the contributions of Tibetan artisans and monks sheds consider­
able light on the procedures of book production and organization of the work
6 CHAPTER 1

of craftsmen and artists. Finally, I did some ‘experimental manuscriptology’ by

personally reconstructing art techniques and copying fragments of selected
books.
I established the following guidelines in my selection of books for research:
search for collections brought from Central Asia and study their history and
provenance; select Tibetan books with particular textual content (canonical
texts); and, finally, search for books with technological or material significance.
The last criterion led to the examination of diverse manuscripts and printed
books with documented or textual clues regarding dating and place of origin. I
furthermore examined Kanjur volumes from different editions to compare
books that were executed both in manuscript and print formats, and products
of different places and from different time periods. Another criterion for select­
ing a book fragment was the range of different types of paper and variety of
book formats.
For the purpose of this essay, the most essential surveys I undertook were in
the British Library in London, UK (2005-until now), the Jagiellonian University
Library in Cracow, Poland (2002-until now), the University of Michigan Special
Collections Library, Ann Arbor, M I, USA, the Harvard-Yenching Library,
Cambridge, MA, USA, the State Library in Berlin, Germany, the Library of
Congress in Washington, DC, USA (May 2010), the Library of Tibetan Works and
Archives in Dharamsala, India (March 2005), the Herbert F. Johnson Museum
of Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA (January-April 2008), the Rare
Book and Manuscript Collection of Columbia University Library, NY, NY, USA
(July 2007 and September 2010), and the National Library in Beijing, China
(October 2007).
The studied collections originated in a variety of time periods and regions of
Tibet and Central Asia. This seemingly wide range of books helped me to
achieve greater objectivity. Since the character of a particular collection usu­
ally depended on the purpose of and availability to the collectors, I tried to
avoid being trapped by the view of a particular collector. I wanted to examine
books that would later allow me to write their cross-sectional history through
regions of Tibet, and also, in time, allow for some general chronology.
This is why I examined Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang, which are
the oldest preserved Tibetan books known, for their particular type of paper
and book format (Appendix 1). The cave where the books were found was
created in the early ninth century by a Chinese monk called Hongbian, the
leader of the Buddhist community at Dunhuang.2 After his death in 862, the
cave became a shrine to Hongbian; a statue of the monk was installed, and

2 For Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang preserved in Russian collections see: Savitzkiy 1991.
INTRODUCTION 7
manuscripts belonging to him were deposited there. Over the following
150 years, increasing numbers of manuscripts were deposited in the cave. At
some point, the statue of Hongbian was relocated to another cave, and manu­
script storage became its primary function.3 The almost fifty examined manu­
scripts written in Tibetan found in Library Cave 17 in Dunhuang are dated to
around the eighth to tenth centuries and representative of the oldest period of
Tibetan book histoiy and development of crafts such as papermaking and cal­
ligraphy. I conducted this research in cooperation with Sam van Schaik and the
International Dunhuang Project at the British Library, and the IDP is adding all
my results to its database.
As my research on Tibetan book collections continued, new subjects for
inquiry arose; in particular, at the British Library I realized that not all Tibetan
books are in the pothiformat. Since that experience, therefore, I also docu­
mented bookbinding diversity. I selected representative books from the British
Library to illustrate different types of Tibetan binding (Appendix l).4
My next experimental group of objects comprises illuminated manuscripts
executed with a variety of techniques, especially writing in gold. These later
evolved into a chapter on ‘Tibetan illuminated manuscripts.’ For this purpose I
viewed the British Library Tibetan collection together with its curator Burkhard
Quessel, and I chose two manuscripts written in gold against a blue or black
background to represent this special form of Tibetan craftsmanship.5 For
research on manuscripts written in gold I also examined the illuminated cover
and frontispiece from the collection of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art
at Cornell University, and the frontispiece and cover from the private R.R.E.
collection in Winterthur.6 Additionally, I examined five gold manuscripts from
Columbia University Library, Rare Book and Manuscript Collection, and one in
the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.
Finally, I approached the most studied aspect of Tibetan book history—
printing culture. I focused on the early history of Tibetan printing and its
development. I started from the early history and technology of printing in
Central Asia, and later I devoted a chapter to repetitive material features

3 See, Rong 2000; Imaeda 2008; van Schaik and Galambos 2012; and Helman-Wazny and van
Schaik 2012.
4 Books singled out to represent different styles of Tibetan binding are: 13162, MS 13092, OR
11376, OR 14727 (1-2), OR 14728, OR 15190, OR 15193, OR MS 12163, TIB c c ° 74>TIB c c 101, TIB
c c 114-115.
5 These books were MS 13162 and OR 15190.
6 Agnieszka Helman-Wazny. Examination of the Tibetan illuminated book cover and frontis­
piece of Eight Thousand Lines Perfection of Wisdom Sutra (Acc. Number: 2006.028 a,b). Report
for the I I. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University prepared in 2008.
8 CHAPTER 1

(patterns) in selected editions of Tibetan Kanjurs (Appendices 2-5). The idea

for this choice developed when I was surveying the Jagiellonian University
Library in Cracow, which has fortunately preserved the Pander Collection,
originally from the Berlin State Library.7 Eugen Pander’s 865 books constitute a
collection of immense value. It contains the Berlin Wanli Kanjur, deemed to be
lost during World War II.8 Eugen Pander was a German professor born in 1854
in Livonia as a Russian citizen, and was a nineteenth-century pioneer of
Tibetan Buddhist studies, especially known for his work in the field of Tantric
Iconography.9 His collection of Tibetan books purchased during his stay in
Beijing is one of a few important early Western collections of Tibetan litera­
ture. This discovery created new possibilities for reviewing the history of the
early stages of Tibetan canonical printing. After preliminary research on
the authentication of the Wanli Kanjur in Cracow, and study of the history
of the Pander Collection, I expanded research towards the examination of all
the available editions of the Tibetan Kanjur produced in China. These com­
prise one folio of the Yongle Kanjur preserved in the Special Collections Library,
University of Michigan; fragments of the Wanli Kanjur edition and its supple­
ment and a volume from one of the later editions of the Kangxi Kanjur both
preserved in the Jagiellonian University Library in Cracow, Poland; two vol­
umes of the supplement to the Wanli Kanjur located at the Harvard-Yenching
Library; and the Berlin Kanjur (manuscript Beck), which was copied from the
Wanli Kanjur set and preserved in the Berlin State Library. Next, I conducted a
supplemental study of Kanjur sets produced in Tibet. These included the
Narthang and Lhasa Kanjurs preserved in the Berlin State Library. Recently, I
have also examined the Cone and Derge Kanjur editions preserved in the
Library of Congress, Washington, DC. The Library of Congress holds the Derge
Kanjur acquired by William Rockhill in 1908 and the Cone Kanjur redaction
acquired by Joseph Rock in 1928. Both editions are im portant for comparing
different editions of Tibetan Kanjurs.
While surveying the Tibetan book collections preserved in a variety of
places I heard many amazing stories about the provenance of these books.
Although these stories usually concerned book fragments only, sometimes an
adventure-filled tale of provenance was shared by an entire collection— as in
the case of the Pander books in Cracow, which I discuss below. These stories
opened my eyes to a new area of study: the history of Tibetan books collec-

7 For the history and preliminary examination of this collection, see: Helman-Wazny 2009: or
Mejor et al. 2010.
8 Eimer 2000:27-51.
9 Pander 1890; Lohia 1994:33-270.
INTRODUCTION 9
lions. In the further perspective, this also greatly helped in the identification of
particular book fragments. Unidentified objects exist in a surprisingly large
numbers even in known and catalogued collections.
One of the most interesting stories concerns the Pander Collection, which
passed from Chinese and Tibetan hands, to German and Polish hands. Eugen
Pander brought his books to Berlin in 1889.101Pander never clearly states where
he obtained his collection; however, he relates that among his acquisitions, he
was very lucky to obtain fifty-nine volumes of the Yongle, พนท!i, and Jiajing
editions of the Kanjur from an imperial monastery in Beijing.11 Pander had a
connection with Yonghegong, or the Temple of Eternal Peace, in Beijing, and
this was probably where he obtained his books.12 While in Beijing during
October 2007, 1made an attem pt to find more information about Eugen Pander
and his acquisitions; unfortunately, all I discovered was a former library associ­
ated with Yonghegong that has not functioned as a library since the Cultural
Revolution. Located in the quarter behind Yonghegong, at present, this build­
ing is abandoned— only traces of its former greatness remain. The Pander
Collection was first donated to the Museum ftir Volkerkunde in Berlin13 in
1889, and then to Konigliche Bibliothek.14 During the closing stages of World
War II, collections from the Prussian State Library (PreuRische Staatsbibliothek)
in Berlin were evacuated to the Silesian Castle Fiirstenstein (Ksiqz) and later to
the Cistercian Brothers Monastery Grüssau (Krzeszôw) to protect them.15
When Lower Silesia became Polish territoiy after the war, the Polish state
claimed the collection as abandoned property. Thus, the collection found its
way to Poland in 1946-47. A group of researchers led by Dr. Stanislaw
Sierotwiriski, delegate of the Ministry of Education from the Jagiellonian
University Library, transported the Pander Collection, along with other items,
to the main library seat in Cracow.16 This collection is still situated in this
library in accordance with the rights of deposit of the Polish Government.17

10 For details see: Ilelman-Wazny 2009 and Mejor et al. 2010:15-16.

11 Eimer2000:29.
12 Pander 1890:7; Lollia 1994: 62.
13 Museum ftir Volkerkunde, Berlin was renamed for Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin from
1993-
14 Nowadays Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (former PreuBische Staatsbibliothek).
15 The circumstances of the Berlinka collection acquisition, including the Pander Collection,
by the Jagiellonian University Library are described in: Pietrzyk 2005:81-87.
16 Jaglarz 2008:49.
17 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 should retain ownership of the Berlinka as compensation for Polish historical
10 CHAPTER 1

Referred to as the Berlinka collection, the Polish Government kept its existence
a secret until 1977; then, Polish First Secretary of The Polish United Workers’
Party Edward Gierek gave East German leader Erich Honecker seven pieces of
music manuscripts from the Berlinka collection, including Mozart’s original
manuscript of Die Zauberflote and Beethoven’s notes for his Ninth Symphony,
as a gift.18 It took more than sixty years to make this collection accessible to
scholars and a wider audience. I was the first to view it in 2003 after the lengthy
period when Pander’s books were forgotten in the storage area of the
Jagiellonian University Library. Just four years earlier, Helmut Eimer had
described this collection as lost during World War II.
Another interesting stoiy concerns a mysterious folio (307 from Brgyadston
’p a) in the Library of Congress. As curator of Tibetan collection Susan Meinheit
told me, in 1941 it was reported to Poleman, head of the Oriental Department
in the Library at that time, that this folio was found by cleaners on the floor.
The folio was in an envelope sent to the Libraiy of Congress in 1923 with a post­
age stamp from Hasting, UK (with a note: “registered Hasting”). At first glance
this folio looked very familiar to me, and I found that it closely resembled the
Sel dkar edition set in the British Library. However, after checking all measure­
ments and comparing these with my previous research on the Sel dkar
(London) Kanjur set, I realized that it could not be the British Library set. This
raises the question of whether any other set of Sel dkar Kanjur exists in the
British Library, and opens a new path of inquiry; that is, the examination of
preserved books should lead to understanding the characteristic of particular
book production centers in Tibet.
In March 2005, I surveyed the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives
founded in 1970 by the XIV Dalai Lama of Tibet. This is one of the most impor­
tant institutions in the world dedicated to the preservation and dissemination
of Tibetan culture. There are more than seventy thousand Tibetan manuscripts
and documents in this library, and the collection is still growing. The purpose
of my visit was carry-out a conservation survey for this collection. Additionally,
three manuscripts, a couple of freelance wooden covers, and a selection of
administrative documents were particularly examined.19 I also had the oppor-

collections destroyed or looted by Germans during World War II. The German media
refers to the Berlinka as the 'last German prisoner of war,’ and claims that Poland is in
violation of the Hague Convention of 1907. To this day, each side claims this collection.
18 Pietrzyk 2008:16.
19 The manuscripts under study have acc. No. 14459,14532, 23585- At the same time, about
300 historical and administrative documents were catalogued and examined by Prof.
Schwiegers’s team of researchers from Bonn University.
INTRODUCTION 11

(unity to examine writing tools and two gold manuscripts from the collection
of the Tibetan Museum situated in the same building.
I studied the paper of most of the examined books m entioned above. This
research was supported by a field study concerning papermaking technology
and the associated plants used as raw material in the production of Tibetan
paper.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 In the grottoes within the Caucasian icy mountains, which the bold
glance of mortal has never spied, where the frost creates an eternal
translucent vault and dulls the fall of the sun’s rays, where lightning
is dead, where thunder is fettered, there stands, cut into ice, a
mighty mansion. There are the storms, there are the cold, blizzards,
tempests; there Winter reigns, devouring years. This austere sister
of other days, though hoary, is swift and agile. Rival of Spring,
Autumn and Summer, she is clad in the purple woven of snow; stark-
frozen steam serves her as veil. Her throne has the form of a
diamond mountain. Great pillars, of ice constructed, cast a silvery
sheen, illumined by the sun; over the heavenly vault glides the solar
splendour, and then it seems a mass of ice is on fire.
The elements have no motion: the air dares not move, nor the fire
glow. There are no coloured fields; among the fields of ice gleam
only frozen flowery vapours; the waters in the heavens, melted by
the rays, hang, petrified, in wavy layers; there in the air you may
discern the words of prophecy, but all is stark, and nature dead. Only
tremor, chill and frost have life; hoar frosts move about, while
zephyrs grow dumb; snowstorms whirl about in flight, frosts reign in
the place of summer luxury. There the ice represents the ruins of
cities, one look at which congeals your blood. Pressed by the frosts,
the snows there form silvery mounds and fields of diamonds. From
there Winter spreads her dominion over us, devouring the grass in
the fields, the flowers in the vales, and sucking up the living sap of
trees, and on cold pinions bears frosts to us, driving day away,
prolonging gloomy nights, and compelling the sun to turn aside his
beaming eyes: with trembling, forests and rivers await her, and chills
weave her shrouds from the white billows.
Platón (in civil life Peter Geórgevich) Levshín.
(1737-1812.)
What Feofán Prokopóvich had been to the reign of Peter
the Great, Platón was to Catherine II. After having studied in
the Moscow Theological Academy, where he became a
teacher even before ending his course, he took the tonsure at
twenty-two; at twenty-five he was made rector of the
Seminary. In the same year he attracted Catherine’s attention
by an eloquent speech On the Usefulness of Piety, and he
was at once called to St. Petersburg to be her son’s spiritual
teacher (see p. 326). Platón rose rapidly, and in 1787 he was
made metropolitan of Moscow. His liberal and enlightened
views on theology were valued not only at home, but his Brief
Theology, originally published in 1755, has been translated
into most European languages, and three times into English.
A Russian source informs us that his book on theology was
made a text-book at Oxford and Cambridge. Several
Englishmen who had visited him, and Dr. Stanley, spoke in
the highest terms of this Russian divine.
The translation of his Brief Theology in English bears the
following titles: The Present State of the Greek Church in
Russia; or, A Summary of Christian Divinity, by Platón, Late
Metropolitan of Moscow, translated from the Slavonian ... by
Robert Pinkerton, Edinburgh, 1814, and New York, 1815; The
Orthodox Doctrine of the Apostolic Eastern Church; or, A
Compendium of Christian Theology, translated from the
Greek ... to which is appended a Treatise on Melchisedec,
London, Manchester [printed], 1857; Κατηχησις—The Great
Catechism of the Holy Catholic Apostolic and Orthodox
Church, translated from the Greek by J. T. S., London, 1867.
A Sermon preached by order of Her Imperial Majesty, on the
Tomb of Peter the Great, in the Cathedral Church of St.
Petersburg, London, 1770.
 WHAT ARE IDOLATERS?

The second commandment forbiddeth idolatry, and every unlawful

mode of worshipping God.
At one time, almost all nations were in such a state of error (and
even now there are many in the same situation), that they
worshipped the creatures as gods, such as the sun, the moon, fire,
also the lower animals, as bulls, cats, crocodiles; and some even
worshipped herbs, such as onion and garlic; and to all these they
offered sacrifices, and paid other divine honours, or they made
statues in the likeness of men and other animals, and bowed down
before them as if they were divinities. But from these shocking and
awful errors, the grace of Jesus Christ has delivered us (I Peter iv.
3).
Such persons also resemble those idolaters as labour for
Mammon and their belly; that is, whose thoughts are all taken up
about amassing riches, which they either do not make use of, or only
sacrifice to their fleshly lusts. With such people, Mammon and the
belly are the idols, to whom they devote all their services; and on this
account the Holy Scriptures call the love of riches, idolatry (Col. iii.
5); and those also idolaters who make their belly their God (Phil. iii.
19).
This commandment also forbids the use of all unlawful means in
the worship of God; that is, when anyone thinks of pleasing God by
that which is not acceptable to Him, and which is not commanded in
His Word. Such, for instance, were those Israelites who presented to
God costly sacrifices while they led ungodly lives. And therefore
God, through His prophet Isaiah, declared sacrifices presented from
such hands to be hateful in His eyes; that is, their oblations were
vain, their incense was an abomination and their fatted calves like
dogs in His sight (chap. i. II). Those persons consequently
transgress against this commandment:
1. Who offer hypocritical worship.—Who utter long prayers, which
of itself is pious, but suppose that they shall be heard for their much
speaking, though at the same time they feel no contrition of spirit. Of
a similar character, also, are those hypocrites who on every occasion
show themselves zealous for the name of God, zealous for the faith,
the glory and the interests of the Church, and who introduce all their
speeches with spiritual observations (which in themselves are
praiseworthy), but who with all this have nothing in view but the
indulgence of a spirit of ostentation, or promoting their own interest
in all that they do, and whose zeal consists only in words with which
their conduct does not in the least agree.
2. Hypocritical observances of the fasts.—Who fast, that is,
abstain from certain kind of food, and on that account hope for divine
acceptance, though at the same time they live in every kind of
iniquity. By them the real fast, which does not consist merely in
abstinence from food, but in restraining the corrupt passions, is evil
spoken of. Such, also, are those who adorn the churches, or cover
the pictures of the saints with gold and silver, yet at the same time
oppress the innocent, who are the Church of the living God, or leave
the poor without food. It is in vain, however, for them to declare that
they have done all that they should have done in order to be saved;
for, according to the words of Christ “these ought they to have done,
and not to leave the other undone” (Matt. xxiii. 23).
3. The superstitious.—Who invent certain miraculous kinds of
appearances, for the sake of filthy lucre, or from some sort of
extravagant ideas about the salvation of their souls, or who attach an
unknown kind of sanctity to some particular places, believing that
God will hear prayers sooner in one place than in another. In a word,
all those who transgress against this commandment, who, according
to the testimony of Christ, place their hope of salvation in externals,
and “omit the weightier matters of law, judgment, mercy and faith.”
Therefore, respecting such characters, divine truth declares “This
people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me
with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do
worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men”
(Matt. xv. 8, 9).
 Reverencing the pictures is not contrary to this commandment.
We do not act contrary to this commandment, when, according to
the ancient custom of Christians, we adorn our temples with the holy
pictures. For, in the first place, we do not attempt to draw upon the
canvas a representation of the unseen and incomprehensible God,
whom we never can represent; but we represent our Saviour in the
fashion of a man which He took upon Himself, or His favourites.
Secondly, the pictures are made and placed in our churches, not for
deification, but to commemorate the acts of God and of His chosen
servants, that we, in beholding them (as, for instance, in looking on
the picture of our crucified Saviour), may stir up our soul to piety and
to the imitation of them in many acts of their lives. Thirdly, the
obeisance which we make before the pictures we do not render to
the pictures themselves, that is, to the boards, colours, ornaments or
skill of the artist, but we render this to the person whom they
represent, and to the pictures only an affectionate salutation. Thus,
for example, I bow before the picture of my Saviour, but the devotion
of my spirit, my faith, supplication and hope, and the obeisance
which I pay, are all rendered to my Saviour alone, who is in heaven,
and everywhere present, and the picture is only a kind of sensible
incitement of my devotion. Moreover, it is necessary to be known
that the obeisance performed before the picture of our Saviour, and
that before the picture of any of the saints, though to appearances
the same, yet in reality are very different indeed. For the worship
which I perform before the picture of the Saviour consists in the
deepest humility of soul before Him as Lord and Creator of all; but
that which I perform before the pictures of the saints is a reverence
which I render to them out of a loving heart as His favourites, and as
of the same nature, and of the same Church, and members of the
same body with myself.

Of such as err in reverencing the pictures.

But notwithstanding all that has been said, this lawful and holy
reverencing of the pictures may be turned into the most abominable
sin of idolatry. This is the case when anyone hopes in, or attaches all
his respect to the holy pictures, and trusts in their material
substance; when, for instance, anyone finds greater sanctity in one
picture than in another, or places in them any hope of salvation.
They, too, are chargeable with this guilt who bring their own
particular picture into the church along with them, and only worship
before it, or who respect those pictures more which are adorned than
the unadorned, the old more than the new, or decline praying at all
when they have not a picture before them. All these, and such like,
are great transgressors, and prove a great disgrace to the real
profession of the Christian faith.
In order to avoid the above-named errors, it is necessary to
remember, 1st, That the worship of God can never be sincere,
unless it proceed from a contrite and unfeigned spirit. For all external
rites of worship are only marks testifying our internal piety and
sincerity towards God, without which they signify nothing. And
therefore the gospel requires that the worshippers of God should
worship Him in spirit (not externally alone), and in truth, or not in
hypocrisy. 2d, We must hold to the divine Word alone, and rest
assured that it only contains the true rules by which we ought to
please God. And therefore Christ said concerning the Holy
Scriptures that in them is contained eternal life.—From The Present
State of the Greek Church in Russia, translated by R. Pinkerton.

FROM THE ADDRESS UPON THE ACCESSION OF ALEXANDER

I.

Thus has the Lord granted to us the privilege of seeing our

Emperor crowned and exalted above men. But we, sons of Russia,
what is our part in this solemnity? Do not our thanksgivings resound
in gratitude to the King of kings for the grace He has bestowed on
our monarch and upon us? Yes, they resound with heartfelt fervour,
warmed with hopes of a future reign of national glory and
happiness!...
This crown, Sire, on your head, is a pledge to us of honour, fame
and renown, but imposes upon you duties and labours which can
only cease with your life; this sceptre in your right hand, a guarantee
to us of repose, demands of you incessant vigilance for our
protection; this emblem of empire in your left hand, a promise to us
of security, exacts of you little but anxiety and care; this purple, for us
a shield and defence from our enemies, challenges you to war and
contests; finally, this whole Imperial attire, to us a source of
consolation and confidence, is for you a burden wrought with danger
and toil—yes, a burden and a labour. For see, to your eyes there will
appear an empire the largest upon which the sun has ever shone;
from your wisdom it looks for the harmonious connection of its parts,
the regulation of the whole. You will see flocking to your feet widows,
orphans, the most destitute, the victims of the abuse of power, of
favour, of corruption and of crime....
But, alas! that near the angels of light the eye should discover the
fiendish spirits of darkness. Flattery, calumny and cunning, with all
their wretched brood, will surround your throne, and foolishly imagine
that their hypocrisy will beguile you. Bribery and partiality will raise
their glossy heads and labour to lower the scale of justice. Luxury,
adorned with every voluptuous charm, presents the intoxicating
draughts of perilous joys to lead astray from the path of virtue the
pure spirit, and engulf it in the slough of indolence and sensuality.
Besieged by this riotous band, you will undoubtedly turn to truth,
justice, wisdom and religion, and, united with you, they will raise their
voice to God that He may rise again in you, and scatter your
enemies.
Monarch of Russia! This struggle awaits you. For this contest gird
on your sword! Draw it with valour, young hero! Fight, conquer and
govern! The omnipotent arm of the Almighty will wonderfully protect
you. We say rightly “wonderfully”; for here not to fall, here to
conquer, here to maintain order and peace, truly! for this is more
than human strength required; and, though the decree of the Eternal
Being has appointed for you an exalted rank among men, you are
nevertheless a man like any of us.—Given in Grahame’s The
Progress of Science, Art and Literature in Russia.
 Iván Ivánovich Khémnitser. (1745-1784.)
Khémnitser was the son of a German physician who had
emigrated to Russia. At thirteen years of age he left his home
and entered military service, which he left in 1769 as a
lieutenant; he then served in the Department of Mines, and
died in Smyrna, where he was Russian consul. Khémnitser
translated La Fontaine’s and Gellert’s fables, but two-thirds of
all the fables he wrote are his own. He forms the transitional
stage between Sumarókov and Krylóv, and is distinguished
for extreme simplicity of language and a certain elegiac tone.
Sir John Bowring has translated his The House-Builder,
The Rich and the Poor Man, The Lion’s Council of State, and
The Waggons. Sutherland Edwards, in his The Russians at
Home, gives a version of The Metaphysician, which is also
reprinted in F. R. Grahame’s The Progress of Science, Art
and Literature in Russia.

THE LION’S COUNCIL OF STATE

A lion held a court for state affairs:

Why? That is not your business, sir, ’twas theirs!
He called the elephants for counsellors—still
The council-board was incomplete;
And the king deemed it fit
With asses all the vacancies to fill.
Heaven help the state—for lo! the bench of asses
The bench of elephants by far surpasses.
 He was a fool, the foresaid king, you’ll say:
Better have kept those places vacant surely,
Than fill them up so poorly.
O no! that’s not the royal way;
Things have been done for ages thus,—and we
Have a deep reverence for antiquity:
Naught worse, sir, than to be, or to appear
Wiser and better than our fathers were.
The list must be complete, even though you make it
Complete with asses; for the lion saw
Such had for ages been the law,—
He was no radical to break it!
“Besides,” he said, “my elephants’ good sense
Will soon my asses’ ignorance diminish,
For wisdom has a mighty influence.”
They made a pretty finish!
The asses’ folly soon obtained the sway:
The elephants became as dull as they!

—From Sir John Bowring’s Specimens of the Russian Poets, Part I.

THE METAPHYSICIAN

A father had heard that children were sent beyond the sea to
study, and that those who had been abroad are invariably preferred
to those who had never been there, and that such people are
respected as being possessed of wisdom. Seeing this, he decided to
send his son also beyond the sea, for he was rich and did not wish to
fall behind the others.
His son learned something, but, being stupid, returned more stupid
yet. He had fallen into the hands of scholastic prevaricators who
more than once have deprived people of their senses by giving
explanations of inexplicable things; they taught him no whit, and sent
him home a fool for ever. Formerly he used to utter simply stupid
things, but now he gave them a scientific turn. Formerly fools only
could not understand him, but now even wise men could not grasp
him: his home, the city, the whole world, was tired of his chattering.
Once, raving in a metaphysical meditation over an old proposition
to find the first cause of all things,—while he was soaring in the
clouds in thought,—he walked off the road and fell into a ditch. His
father, who happened to be with him, hastened to bring a rope, in
order to save the precious wisdom of his house. In the meantime his
wise offspring sat in the ditch and meditated: “What can be the
cause of my fall? The cause of my stumbling,” the wiseacre
concluded, “is an earthquake. And the precipitous tendency towards
the ditch may have been produced by an aërial pressure, and a
coactive interrelation of the seven planets and the earth and ditch.”...
His father arrived with the rope: “Here,” he said, “is a rope for you!
Take hold of it, and I will pull you out. Hold on to it and do not let it
slip!” “No, don’t pull yet: tell me first what kind of a thing is a rope?”
His father was not a learned man, but he had his wits about him,
so, leaving his foolish question alone, he said: “A rope is a thing with
which to pull people out of ditches into which they have fallen.” “Why
have they not invented a machine for that? A rope is too simple a
thing.” “’T would take time for that,” his father replied, “whereas your
salvation is now at hand.” “Time? What kind of a thing is time?”
“Time is a thing that I am not going to waste with a fool. Stay there,”
his father said, “until I shall return!”
How would it be if all the other verbose talkers were collected and
put in the ditch to serve him as companions? Well, it would take a
much larger ditch for that.
 Yákov Borísovich Knyazhnín. (1742-1791.)
Knyazhnín was born in Pskov, where he received his early
education; in St. Petersburg he acquired German, French and
Italian, and began to write verses. He served in civil and
military government offices. In 1769 he wrote his first tragedy,
Dido, which attracted Catherine’s attention to him. He then
married Sumarókov’s daughter and devoted himself more
especially to literature. Knyazhnín wrote a number of
tragedies and comedies: the subject of all of these is taken
from Italian and French, thus his Vadím of Nóvgorod is based
on Metastasio’s Clemenza di Tito, and the original of Odd
People is Destouches’s L’homme singulier. The Vadím of
Nóvgorod had a peculiar history. Knyazhnín had great
admiration for Catherine and her autocratic rule. In his Vadím
he tried to depict the struggle between republican Nóvgorod
and the monarchic Rúrik, in which the latter comes out
victorious, to the advantage of unruly Nóvgorod. He had
written it in 1789, but did not stage it on account of the
disturbed condition of Europe under the incipient French
Revolution. Two years after his death, in 1793, Princess
Dáshkov, the President of the Academy, inadvertently ordered
it to be published. The book appeared most inopportunely, at
the very time the Revolution had broken forth. The tendency
of the tragedy was overlooked, and only the republican
utterances of Vadím were taken notice of. The book was
ordered to be burnt by the executioner, but as only a few
copies could be found in the storeroom of the Academy, the
rest having been sold in the meanwhile, they were privately
destroyed.

VADÍM OF NÓVGOROD

ACT I., SCENE 2. VADÍM, PRENÉST AND VÍGOR

 Vadím. Could Rúrik so transform your spirit that you only weep
where your duty is to strike?
Prenést. We burn to follow you, to be glorified for ever, to crush
the haughty throne, to resuscitate our land; but though the zeal
already burns within our hearts, it sees as yet no means of its
fulfilment. Disdaining harsh and laborious days, if needs we must
die, we are ready; but that our death be not in vain and could save
our beloved land from evil, and that, intent to break the fetters, we
tighten them not more in servitude,—we must expect the aid of the
immortals, for the gods can give us a favourable opportunity.
Vadím. So we must depend alone upon the gods and ingloriously
remain the slaves we are? The gods have given us the opportunity
to wrest back freedom, and hearts to dare, and hands to strike! Their
aid is within us: what else do you wish? Go, creep, await in vain their
thunder, but I alone, boiling with anger, will move to die for you, for I
can brook no master! O fate! For three years absent from my
country, enticed by victory for its glory I left liberty and happiness
within these walls against us erected, and have been hurling pride
into the dust. I bear the fruit of my exploits a gift to my nation: but
what do I see? Lords who have lost their liberty bent in loathsome
slavery before the king, and kissing their yoke under the sceptre. Tell
me, how could you, seeing your country’s fall, for a moment prolong
your life in shame? And if you could not preserve your liberty,—how
could you bear the light and want to live?
Vígor. As before, we burn with love for our fatherland!
Vadím. Prove it not with words, but with your blood! From your
speech reject that sacred word. Or can slaves have a fatherland?
Vígor. Your spirit justly is with grief embittered, but in vain you,
bedimmed by anger, accuse us, who are innocent, of such an evil
crime. No sooner did you before the army bid our land good-bye,
than many lords, seeing a means for evildoing, they, the mighty, let
into the city, for the country’s doom, arrogance, envy, hatred, riot.
The home of peace was transformed into a hell; the holy truth
henceforth passed away; liberty, flurried, tottered to its fall; civil strife
with brazen brow erected a house of death upon the bodies of its
citizens. The people seeing itself a prey of hungry ravens fought with
madness for the election of a tyrant. The whole Vólkhov boiled with
reeking blood. Pitiful Nóvgorod, you saw no salvation! The venerable
Gostomýsl, with grey hair adorned, had lost all his sons under these
our walls, and, weeping not for them but the calamity of the citizens,
was alone given to us a consolation by the immortals. He invited
Rúrik to our aid, and with his sword returned happiness to us. Just
then, worn out from years and woes, Gostomýsl ended his days,
beaming with joy for having brought back peace to his country; but
departing to the gods and honouring Rúrik’s heroism, he enjoined
the nation to leave to him the power which had put a stop to its
groans and sorrows. Our people, touched by so great deserts,
placed the saviour over itself as ruler.
Vadím. Ruler! Rúrik! What nation has he saved? Having come to
our aid, what has he done for us? He has paid a debt! However his
benefactions may have seemed to you to deserve repayment, were
you compelled to pay with your liberty, and make your enslavement
a gift to merit? O low souls that fall down before fate and are
inveigled by the stream of chance,—oh, if you had known how to
respect yourselves! Blessed would Rúrik be, if he had been able,
though clad in porphyry, to become equal to our citizens. Renowned
by his high title among all kings, he would have been sufficiently
rewarded by this distinction. Tell me: did Gostomýsl, aware of his
heroic deeds, enjoin fetters to you, to end your woes, or was his will
the freedom of the citizens? Or did he turn you over to him, like
those beasts whom anyone who lists may bridle?

ODD PEOPLE

ACT II., SCENE 2. MRS. INDOLENT, ÚLINKA, WEATHERVANE

Weathervane. Ma charmante Úlinka! Oh, how beautiful you are!

Tous ces gens, how stupid, how dishonest, and they will not see in
your eyes what I see.
Úlinka. And what do you see?
 Weathervane. Friponne! As if you did not know yourself that it is
not possible to hate you, that you are fairer than heaven! (Úlinka
courtesies.) You courtesy! How elegant! What a consolation to have
such a daughter! (To Mrs. Indolent.) Is it not so, Maman?
Mrs. Indolent. I must confess that her education is what her birth
demands, and as she has all liberty in her movements, as behooves
a daughter born of me, she is, sir, removed from all coarseness; and
keeping herself aloof from everything, as our dignity demands, she
knows neither how to sew nor weave, leaving such occupations to
common people; she dances like a peacock, sings like a nightingale,
and, knowing French like a Frenchwoman, she would like to forget
her Russian; she retires at three o’clock, rises at twelve, and passes
two hours at her toilet.
Weathervane. Bravo, madam! That’s the way it ought to be before
the world and men,—ah, how do you call it? pour les gens du haut
ton. You must pardon me a little, madam, if I too, duly cautious of my
honour, regard our language to be nothing but a jargon, in which it is
not possible properly to express your thoughts, and where you have
to wear yourself out mercilessly in the attempt of finding your ideas.
Only out of compulsion do I speak that language to my lackey,
coachman and with all common people, where there is no need to
exert yourself in thinking. But with our distinguished people it would
be to appear a fool, not to speak French to them. Pray tell me, how
could I fall in love? Je brûle, je languis! How could I express that in
Russian to charming Úlinka: I faint, I burn,—fi donc! I must assume
that you speak French, and so does your époux....
Mrs. Indolent (perplexed). Of course, of course! Comment vous
portez-vous?
Weathervane. Bravo, madam!
Mrs. Indolent. I am now a little out of practice, but formerly I never
prattled in Russian.
Weathervane. You will hardly believe how poor I am in Russian! In
Russian my intelligence is so narrow, so small! But in French: o, que
le diable m’emporte! My intelligence at once walks in by the grande
porte. I’ll tell you what once happened to me. I was once sitting with
a young lady who did not know two words of French, and that
caused ma tête horriblement to ache, so that I had to pass a whole
day at home in undress.
Mrs. Indolent. I should not think the harm could be so great. The
pain, no doubt, was caused through nagimation.
Weathervane. Imagination you meant to say?
Mrs. Indolent. That’s it. You see, though I am a little out of practice,
I am still able to adorn our coarse tongue, which I despise, with
French morsels. My époux has always seemed such an odd fellow to
me because, though he knows French like a Frenchman, he does
not care to amuse himself with that charming language.
Weathervane. That, madam, I cannot understand. A nobleman....
Mrs. Indolent. Oh! His race is as distinguished as the ace of
trumps, and nobody can compare with him in antiquity of origin: he
can recount his ancestors a thousand years back.
Weathervane. And so there is not the least obstacle, ma
charmante Úlinka, for regarding you as my own! (Úlinka makes a
courtesy.) Everything is equal in us: the graces, and pleasures, and
intelligence, je m’en flatte, and even our families. (Úlinka courtesies.)
How delicate your courtesying at the mention of family! Courtesying
takes the place of redundant language, de discours frivoles,
superfluous babbling. She knows how to say everything in a
charming manner, and with modesty to express an immodest wish,
who knows how to courtesy like Úlinka. (Noticing Mrs. Indolent’s
husband.) Please tell me who is that bear that is walking towards
us?
Mrs. Indolent. My husband.
Weathervane. You are joking! Is it not rather his ancestor who a
thousand years ago began his race?
Mrs. Indolent. The exterior, you know, does not tell much. In this
world, sir, it is not rare for hidden nobility to deceive the eye: though
the diamond does not shine in the dark, yet it is a diamond. He is, I
assure you, a nobleman of ancient race, and, forgive me, a bit of a
philosopher.
Weathervane. Is it not a shame to rank yourself with asses? Is it
an occupation for a nobleman to philosophise?
Mrs. Indolent (to Úlinka). Now, Úlinka, you cannot stay here; we
have to talk with father about you. (Úlinka courtesies. Exit.)

SCENE 3. INDOLENT, MRS. INDOLENT, WEATHERVANE

Mrs. Indolent (aside). O Heaven! Help me to end all successfully. I

tremble, I am afraid my husband will give me away, for he cannot
speak a word of French, and it is but recently that he was made a
nobleman. How unfortunate I am! How am I to bear it all? (To her
husband.) You see here that distinguished cavalier who is doing us
the extreme honour.
Weathervane (bending, greets him foppishly). I wish to be a son-
in-law....
Indolent (seating himself). He who wants to sit down, let him sit
down. I have no use for your manners, according to which one has
to be urged to sit down. Well, distinguished cavalier ... (Weathervane
bows again foppishly) please quit your monograms which you are
making with your feet. By bowing in flourishes, between us be it said,
you will find little favour with me. With all these goatlike leaps a
person appears to me to be full of wind and without a soul. Sir, make
a mental note of it, if you wish to be my son-in-law.
Weathervane. If I wish? O ciel! Those are tous mes vœux! Agnes
Sorel was not so loved by the French king, as your daughter by me.
Je jurerai toujours, I may say without making any court to her, she is
a divinité!
Indolent (to his wife in amazement). From where, dear wife, has
God sent you such a cavalier?
Weathervane. Beaucoup d’honneur, monsieur! So I have found
favour in your eyes? I knew I would. You will not find another one like
me, monsieur!
 Indolent. Mosyo, give me a chance to regain my senses! I beg
you....
Weathervane. But you put me to shame: you flatter me by saying
that you are stunned by me.
Indolent. Proceed, tormentor!
Weathervane. ’Tis true I have merite; without boasting, j’ose vous
dire that; but I do not know whether it will cause any delire,—only the
world says that it would take a pretty good man to beat me for talent;
qu’un homme tel que moi....
Indolent. Don’t believe it, the world often rants.
Weathervane. Comment?
Indolent. Tell me, are you a Russian or a Frenchman?
Weathervane. Hélas! I am not a Frenchman!
Indolent. What makes you groan so?
Weathervane (sorrowfully). I am a Russian, and that is a burden
on my heart.
Indolent. And so you regard it an insult to be a Russian? A fine
distinguished nobleman!
Weathervane. I am very, very glad, on ne peut plus, that I have
pleased you, monsieur; que vous avez the same thoughts as I. How
can we best prove our nobility? By not knowing Russian, despising
all that is ours,—those are the veritable signs of our descent.
Indolent. Though I cannot understand everything you say, since I
do not know any foreign words, yet by the marks....
Weathervane. Vous vous moquez, monsieur. You do know French.
Indolent (angrily). No, no, no!
Weathervane. At your age, monsieur, it is not proper for you to
deceive me. You speak French like a Frenchman, or like myself.
Indolent (impatiently). Wife, assure him of it, and put a stop to this
nonsense.
 Weathervane (angrily). Je ne le croirai point! How stubborn you
are!
Indolent (excitedly). The devil....
Mrs. Indolent (rapidly). My darling, please do not get angry.
Indolent (excitedly). Both of you go to! I have not seen the like of
him in all my life.
Mrs. Indolent. You are a philosopher, and does Seneca, sir, teach
you that?
Indolent (coolly). I am ready to constrain myself, if only he will talk
Russian with me.
Weathervane. What! you are of a very noble origin, and you are
piqued?
Indolent (beside himself). Who told you so? I am of burgher origin,
but of a good family.
Weathervane. You, monsieur, have been a nobleman these
thousand years.
Indolent. Believe me, I am a new-baked dumpling; but I am more
juicy than those that have grown tough.
Mrs. Indolent. Stop that....
Indolent. That we may understand each other, I shall tell you
plainly: my father, all remember that, was an honest smith.
Weathervane. Qu’entends-je! (He walks away, singing a French
song.)
Indolent. Good-bye!
Mrs. Indolent (fainting away). I am undone! Oh, I am sick!
Indolent. What nonsense! To feel sick because I cannot speak
French, and because my father is a smith! You ought not to have
treated me that way, by lying about me. No, my Úlinka shall not
marry him.
Princess Ekaterína Románovna Dáshkov. (1743-
1810.)
Princess Dáshkov was educated in the house of her uncle,
Vice-Chancellor Vorontsóv. She knew a number of foreign
languages and took an interest in politics, rummaging through
the documents in her uncle’s archives. She travelled much
abroad, where she cultivated the acquaintance of Diderot and
Voltaire; during a visit in England, when her son was
graduating from the Edinburgh University, she met also
Robertson and Adam Smith. Upon her return to Russia,
Catherine II., partly from a sincere respect for her talents, and
partly to reward her for her efforts in obtaining the throne for
the Empress, made her the President of the Russian
Academy which Princess Dáshkov had herself founded. Her
labours for the Academy were both thorough and far-
reaching. She encouraged young writers, sent men abroad to
be educated, published the first dictionary of the Russian
language, caused others to translate from foreign tongues,
and herself translated, especially from English; she
established several periodicals and did much for the
advancement of science. In 1795, Princess Dáshkov incurred
the Empress’s disfavour for permitting Knyazhnín’s drama,
Vadím of Nóvgorod, to be published in the Russian Theatre
(see p. 308). Paul, who ascended the throne the next year,
removed her from her post, but at the accession of Alexander
I., the Academy unanimously voted to reinstate her as its
President, but she declined the offer.
Her Memoirs were originally written in French, but they first
saw the light in English, under the title: Memoirs of Princess
Dashkaw, Written by Herself, edited by Mrs. W. Bradford,
London, 1840, 2 vols.

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A RUSSIAN ACADEMY

 One day, whilst I was walking with the Empress in the gardens of
Tsárskoe Seló, our conversation turned on the beauty and richness
of the Russian language, which led me to express a sort of surprise
that her Majesty, who could well appreciate its value, and was
herself an author, had never thought of establishing a Russian
Academy.
I observed that nothing was wanting but rules, and a good
dictionary, to render our language wholly independent of those
foreign terms and phrases, so very inferior to our own in expression
and energy, which had been so absurdly introduced into it.
“I really know not,” replied her Majesty, “how it happens that such
an idea has not been already carried into effect; the usefulness of an
establishment for the improvement of our own language has often
occupied my thoughts, and I have even given directions about it.”
“That is very surprising, madam,” said I, “for surely nothing can
well be easier than the execution of such a project. There is a great
variety of models to be found, and you have only to make choice of
the best.”
“Do you, Princess, I beg,” returned her Majesty, “give me a sketch
of one.”
“It would be better, madam,” replied I, “were you to order one of
your secretaries to present you with a plan of the French Academy,
the Academy at Berlin, and a few others, with remarks on such
particulars as might be better adapted to the genius and habits of
your own people.”
“I entreat of you, I must beg to repeat it,” said the Empress, “that
you will take upon yourself this trouble, for then I can confidently look
forward, through your zeal and activity, to the accomplishment of an
object which, with shame I confess it, has been too long delayed.”
“The trouble, madam,” I said, “will be very trifling, and I will obey
you as expeditiously as possible; but I have not the books I wish to
refer to at hand, and I must be allowed the liberty of again assuring
your Majesty that any of the secretaries in the ante-chamber would
execute the commission better than myself.”