The Syntax of Colophons: A Comparative Study across Pothi Manuscripts (Studies in Manuscript Cultures, 27) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 311079523X ISBN 13: 9783110795233

Publisher: De Gruyter, 2022

Synopsis

This volume is the first to attempt a comprehensive and cross-disciplinary analysis of the manuscript cultures implementing the pothi manuscript form (a loosely bound stack of oblong folios). It is the indigenous form by which manuscripts have been crafted in South Asia and the cultural areas most influenced by it, that is to say Central and South East Asia. The volume focuses particularly on the colophons featured in such manuscripts presenting a series of essays enabling the reader to engage in a historical and comparative investigation of the links connecting the several manuscript cultures examined here. Colophons as paratexts are situated at the intersection between texts and the artefacts that contain them and offer a unique vantage point to attain global appreciation of their manuscript cultures and literary traditions. Colophons are also the product of scribal activities that have moved across regions and epochs alongside the pothi form, providing a common thread binding together the many millions of pothis still today found in libraries in Asia and the world over. These contributions provide a systematic approach to the internal structure of colophons, i.e. their ‘syntax’, and facilitate a vital, comparative approach.

About this title

About the Authors

Nalini Balbir, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris - 3, Paris, Frankreich; Giovanni Ciotti, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg.

Nalini Balbir, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3, Paris, France; Giovanni Ciotti, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.

Edition details

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 311079523X
• ISBN 13: 9783110795233
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 412
• Editor: Balbir Nalini, Ciotti Giovanni