A well-preserved & elaborately carved woodblock (85 x 380 mm.), with text & illustrations on...
Tibet: [late 19th-early 20th cent.].
Our woodblock was carved to print two leaves in pothi format, common for Tibetan books. It contains no Chinese sigla, which are sometimes seen in Tibetan books printed in China.
“The rise of printing in Tibet was an event of the utmost importance for Tibetan cultural and intellectual life. A major canonical collection is not known to have been printed until 1411, when that first Kangyur was printed with Ming imperial patronage. Yet printing had been used for Tibetan language publications centuries before. The earliest Tibetan language wood-block print currently known is a.... More