Illuminations : The Writing Traditions of Indonesia
78: Weatherhill, 1996. Hardcover. Text in English. 297 pp. Edge wear.
Straddling the equator and bridging the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Indonesian archipelago has been a crossroads for millennia, a place not only where West met East, but where indigenous societies traded as freely in knowledge as they did in pepper and cloves. The richness of the archipelago's land and seas is mirrored in its linguistic wealth. Hundreds of distinct languages are to be found in Indonesia, and many ethnic groups have their own scripts and writing traditions, as well as distinctive writing materials and media.
Yet Indonesian manuscripts are virtually unknown outside Indonesia. Even scholars have only limited access to the tens of thousands of manuscripts in public and private collections in Indonesia and abroad. Illuminations: The Writing Traditions of Indonesia is the first comprehensive treatment in any language of the subject. It traces the development of the art of writing in Indonesia, beginning with the diffusion of Indic scripts and the creation of indigenous scripts as seen stone and copperplate inscriptions; classical Javanese writings and the Javanese manuscript tradition; the spread and influence of Arabic script and calligraphy and the illuminated book-form manuscripts of the Islamic tradition; the elaborate letters and seals of the Malay writing tradition; manuscripts from Aceh; the lontar, or palm-leaf manuscripts of Bali, Lombok, and Sunda; Chinese manuscript literature in Indonesia; the diaries and cassette-like manuscripts of South Sulawesi; the Batak traditions of Sumatra, including writings on bark, bone, and bamboo; and finally, the decline of the manuscript tradition and the present state of preservation of manuscripts in Indonesia.
Fifteen chapters, written by nineteen of the world's foremost authorities and illustrated with over 380 full-color reproductions, discuss in detail not only the physical materials of Indonesian manuscripts but the literary forms that the manuscripts recorded and preserved; religious and philosophical works, manuscripts of magic and divination, literature, poetry, drama, history, and legal treatises. The authors bring to bear expertise in the disciplines of art, archaeology, history, and literary studies on this fascinating and extremely varied subject and present a revolutionary transformation of the accepted picture of Indonesia's past, proving that the archipelago was not a place of static traditions but a hive of intellectual activity and artistic acumen. Published in conjunction with festivities marking the fiftieth anniversary of Indonesian independence, Illuminations features manuscripts from the collection of the National Library of Indonesia, the world's largest yet heretofore nexplored repository of Indonesian manuscripts, It also brings together stunning examples of manuscripts from the world's other major collections, including museums, libraries, and galleries in Great Brítain, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, and Australia. Although as elsewhere in the world, the print revolution brought about a decline in the manuscript tradition, in Indonesia it remained alive long after it had died in the West. In fact, illuminated manuscripts were being produced in Indonesia well into the twentieth century and on Bali, even today, the production of lontar palm-leaf manuscripts continues, and is documented here in sequential photographs showing the preparation of materials for manuscript production.
With its extensive visual documentation of Indonesian manuscripts, a comprehensive bibliography, list of illustrations, and index, Illuminations is both a visual delight and a valuable resource for the scholar, student, and artist. And, as the struggle to preserve Indonesian manuscripts from the ravages of time and climate continues, it is also a publishing milestone, recording many rare and precious manuscripts and preserving them for posterity, It is a book that deserves to be as treasured as the traditions it celebrates. Very Good / Very Good. Item #4228
ISBN: 9780834803497
Price: $60.00