Farfel Research Notebooks

604 Leaves-of-old Akron, Ohio August '04 $44.00

Koran. Illuminated Arabic MSS on laid paper. See #140 283 312 333 404 583 Northern Africa: 18the Century Surah XLVIII The Victory (Fateh) 17 lines to the page written in Maghrebi Sudan's script in brown ink with letter pointing + full vocalization in red + highlighted with saffron .. Catchword present 220x165mm (8 5/8 x 6 1/2")

As in other manuscripts from West Africa the leaves were not intended to be sewn into gatherings + were heald together by the binding in the manner of a portfolio.

Maghribi, a derivative of Western Kufic, was a style of script developed in the 10th C. + used in N. Africa + Spain. It is generally more flowing + cursive than Kufic script.

605 artmn-com Ulaenbaatan 976, Mongolia Aug. '04 $9.99

Mongolian manuscript - single leaf. Music piece. Written in Tibetan on cream color. See #449 #609 #610 paper. 4+3 lines respectively. Black ink, with highlighting in red. 6.5x17cm. 19th Century. Cursive calligraphy (ume, dbu-med)

606 Michael Janiel Rockport, Texas Aug. '04 $37.00

See #513 Thailand: Mid 19th Century Illustrated medical manual on thick mulberry paper (Khoi paper) from folding book. Text in Thai Script in black ink on 5 ruled lines. Some staining + fraying. 2 leaves of text with outer leaf as a cover. each leaf, 120x367 mm;

- The folding book (Parabaik) was used for both Buddhist + secular Thai texts of general literature as well as practical writings such as official documents + letters. THe use of the folding book was widespread in Thailand, Burma + Cambodia + was also known in China , Tibet Nepal + some parts of India. - The beauty of Thai writing lies in the straight lines of its letters connected by sharp bends, corner + circular flourishes. Spaces are not left between words but rather between long phases, + this greatly affects the appearance of the written language. - Traditional medicine in Thailand was recorded in Numerous texts deriving from various foreign systems of medicine, including Chinese, Indian + Arabic. Disease was ascribed to 'winds' or vapours inhabiting the body as in pre-modern western medicine, as well as to bile + to mucus. Channels in the body terminated in the pressure points known to us by way of Chinese acupuncture + Japanese Shiatsu pressure massage.

607 Antigua, Guatemala Oct. '04 75 cents

Paper - made from cotton 8 1/2 x 12 inches

Antigua, Guatemala Plaza Mayor - Palacio del Ayuktamiento on the north side. Constructed in 1743 to house the city council. Guatemala's 1st printing shop was established here. Today it is home to City Hall + the tournst police offices.

In 1660, at the insistence of Guatemala's Bishop, Fray Payo Enriquez de Ribera, Joseph de Pineda Ibarra (1629-1680) moved his printing press form Puebla de los Angeles near Mexico City to Central America. The printer's son eventually took over, the family business, which would remain Guatemala's sole publishing house until 1714. - Founded in 1543 Antigua was the former Spanish colonial capital of Central America + the 3rd most important colony in the continent. The city was partly destroyed by the Santa Merta earthquakes in 1773. - Sebastian de Arevalo printed in Guatemala from 1727 until his death in 1772. He made his own types + is credited with publishing Guatemala's 1st newspaper, "Baceta de Guatemala" (1729-731)

608 David Brace Le-on Solent, Hampshire England Nov. '04 $42.00

Hemicus Aimehensis (fl. early 14th century) De quattor virtutibus cardinalbus f0 Strassburg [Epon press after 11 Nov 1472] See #234 #180 #134 Ref: Goff H-18 H. 1649 Pell 1168 Oates 128 Pr 310 BMC I 77 GW 12193 Copy: HEHL, LC, New L, Harv CL

Editor: Thomas Dorniberg (fl. ca 1472) - leaf 68 (i2 of 8) [a10 b-r8 s10] Ia: 34 lines, 302x122 mm Type: 120, with tied de and comma-stroke two to 4 and 6 line spaces for copitals Heading on leaf 11 printed in red.

HEHL #102516 rub. in red only my leaf marked 68 in this copy also. Book II - de iusticia distictus begins on folio 35 ends on folio 70 Total of 4 books. no signatures

Second ed. reprinted from the rare editio princeps of Speyer (H. 1650, Goff H20). THe sermons of Hemicus (fl. early 14th C) were addressed to the citezens of Venice where he was prior of the Dominican convent of SS. Giovanni e Paolo. THe printed editions inclued a preface + index compiled by Thomas Dorniberg, city advocate of Speyer.

The Strassburg ed. of H. Ariminessis with the long run of Cross on Mounts paper, provided the launching point for one of the great discoveries of bibliographical scholarship: the proof that the Missale speciale or so called Constance Missal, dates not to the early 1450's, but early 1470's.

609 armn-con Ulaahbeatar, Monglia Dec. '04 $14.13

Mongolian manuscripts (2) Written in Tibetan 18-19th C.? Religious Pothi format. See #605 a)13.6x5.7cm 19 leaves, brown paper 6 lines per page except cover pages which has just one line + page. 3 also. 2nd page is blank. -numbered along left border.

b) 17x7 cm. 5 leaves thin, discolored, brown paper, frayed at edges. 5 lines per page, except cover page which has 4. last page of leaf 5 blank.

610 Bold Batzayer (goldensq@mongol.net) Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Dec. '04 (pumbark) $49.99

Black Manuscript book - 24 x 8.2 cm. See #609 #612 #642 MongoliaL 18-19 C? gold on indigo paper 7 elaves of composite paper completely died dark blue + subsequently overpainted in black and varnished a central panel of 19x5.7cm. Written in gold ink on 6 and 4 lines per page in 2 sizes of uchen - Tibetan dbu-can script within gold borders. 5 leaves written on both sides with the opening cover leaf having just a single line of script. Pothi format. -numbered 1-6 in left margin -Tibetan script runs from left to right on a horizontal line wo a special sign (*) tseg placed between each syllable -Tibetan writing was adopted to Mongolian (the Tibetan-Mongolian script beign known as Hphags-pa) + even ot Chinese. -Tibetans number their texts ABC etc. according to the order of the Tibetan alphabet: KA, KHA, GA, NGA, CA, CHA etc. -The 3 modern editions of the Tibetan Buddhist canon are those of the text as transmitted in Tibet iteslf called the sDe-ge, edited by Ui + others, that as used by the Tibetan monasteries near Peking (Rehe) + printed there by Imperial decree edited by Suzuki + that as used in Mongolia (Ulan Baton) edited by Bethlenfalvy. -The varnished blue or black surfaces of Buddhist sutra manuscripts are interpreted as "the clear empty space, the void from which all things arise."

616 Bill Mayer St. Petersburg, FL March '05 $49.00

Chaucer, Geoggrey (d. 1400) The workers of our ancient and learned English poet, Geffrey Chaucer, newly printed. London: Adam Islip, 1598 Ed. Thomas Speght (fl. 1600)

Ref: STC 5077 55 lines

Copy: HEHL

1st ed. edited by Thomas Speght (fl. 1600) who had the assistance of John Stowe, Francis Tynne, Francis Beaumont the elder + Robert Glover

Virtually all we know of T. Speght is that he was an antiquary + schoolmaster, educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge where he received a yearly scholarship from the mother of Sir Robert Cecil, to whom he dedicates the book.

issued c 2 different elaborate title pages, both dated 1598. One bears the name of G. Bishop; the other B. Norton or Thomas Wight.

The text is a close reprinting of the 1561 ed (the [?issue?] without woodcuts except for the addition of 2 more spurious works to canon towards the end.

The 1598 Islip used for the text a black letter (about 94 mm. for 20 lines)

1598 ed "The Testament of love", folio 285-307.

Adam Islip fl. 1591-1640^39. Printer in London (1585) In 1594 he acquired much of the printing material of John Wolfe.

In some of the best manuscripts the pages were stained dark blue or black + carefully polished before being inscribed using gold + silver inks. This practice, attested in Tibed since the very beginning of the 2nf diffusion of Buddhism in the 11th C. could have had a far-eastern origin with its prototypes in the Chinese copies of the sutras on blue paper. Gold + silver MSS on blue paper were alos produced in Nepal + it is not clear if they represent an Indian tradition or an influence from contemporary Tibetan MSS. Although the materials used were very different, the Indian format of the pothi was adopted for most Tibetan MSS. Tibetan MSS are normally written on locally produced pages with the pages wider than long in order to imitate the shape, if not the size + the proportions of Indian palmleaf pages. Of the 2 main forms of the Tibetan alphabet, the ucen (dbu-can) regular style + the ume (dbu-med) cursive, only the former was used to copy canonical religious texts because its more time consuming execution provided greater merits to the donor.