Tibetan Printing: Comparisons, Continuities and Change Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library Edited by Henk Blezer Alex McKay Charles Ramble volume 39 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/btsl Tibetan Printing: Comparisons, Continuities and Change Edited by Hildegard Diemberger, Franz-Karl Ehrhard and Peter Kornicki LEIDEN | BOSTON Want or need Open Access? Brill Open offers you the choice to make your research freely accessible online in exchange for a publication charge. Review your various options on brill.com/brill-open. Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1568-6183 isbn 978-90-04-31606-5 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-31625-6 (e-book) Copyright 2016 by Editors and Authors Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. 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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Diemberger, Hildegard, editor. | Ehrhard, Franz-Karl, editor. | Kornicki, Peter F. (Peter Francis) editor. Title: Tibetan printing : comparisons, continuities and change / edited by Hildegard Diemberger, Franz-Karl Ehrhard and Peter Kornicki. Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2016. | Series: Brill’s Tibetan studies library ; volume 39 | Papers presented at a workshop on “Printing as an Agent of Change in Tibet and beyond” held at Pembroke College, Cambridge, in November 2013. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016005484 (print) | LCCN 2016021799 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004316065 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9789004316256 (E-book) Subjects: LCSH: Printing—Tibet Region—History—Congresses. | Books—Tibet Region—History— Congresses. | Bookbinding—Tibet Region—History—Congresses. | Book design—Tibet Region—History—Congresses. Classification: LCC Z8.T53 T53 2016 (print) | LCC Z8.T53 (ebook) | DDC 686.20951/5—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016005484 Contents Acknowledgements ix List of Illustrations, Tables and Maps x Introduction 1 Part 1 The Introduction of Printing in the Asian Context: Wider Perspectives on Print and Manuscript Cultures 1 Three Print Revolutions 13 Peter Burke 2 The Gutenberg Fallacy and the History of Printing among the Mongols 21 Johan Elverskog 3 Mongolian Female Rulers as Patrons of Tibetan Printing at the Yuan Court: Some Preliminary Observations on Recently Discovered Materials 38 Kawa Sherab Sangpo 4 Empress Shōtoku as a Sponsor of Printing 45 Peter Kornicki 5 From Chongzhen lishu 崇楨曆書 to Tengri-yin udq-a and Rgya rtsis chen mo 51 Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp 6 A Forgotten Chapter in South Asian Book History? A Bird’s Eye View of Sanskrit Print Culture 72 Camillo A. Formigatti 7 Manuscript and Print in the Tangut State: The Case of the Sunzi 135 Imre Galambos vi contents 8 Printing versus Manuscript: History or Rhetoric? A Short Note Inspired by Pelliot DIC 153 Cristina Scherrer-Schaub 9 The Uses of Early Tibetan Printing: Evidence from the Turfan Oasis 1 71 Sam van Schaik PART 2 The Introduction of Printing Into Tibet: Drivers, Impact and New Discoveries 10 New Discoveries in Early Tibetan Printing History 195 Porong Dawa 11 Collected Writings as Xylographs: Two Sets from the Bo dong pa School 212 Franz-Karl Ehrhard 12 Continuity and New Developments in 15th Century Tibetan Book Production: Bo dong Phyogs las rnam rgyal (1376–1451) and His Disciples as Producers of Manuscript and Print Editions 237 Tsering Dawa Sharshon 13 Tibetan Women as Patrons of Printing and Innovation 267 Hildegard Diemberger 14 Prints about the Printer: Four Early Prints in Honor of the Mad Yogin of gTsang 309 Stefan Larsson 15 Works and Networks of mkhas pa Dri med. On the Illustrations of 16th Century Tibetan Printed Books 332 Marta Sernesi 16 Early Book Production and Printing in Bhutan 369 Dorji Gyaltsen vii contents 17 An Unacknowledged Revolution? A Reading of Tibetan Printing History on the Basis of Gung thang Colophons Studied in Two Dedicated Projects 394 Michela Clemente 18 Revolutions of the Dharma Wheel: Uses of Tibetan Printing in the Eighteenth Century 424 Benjamin J. Nourse 19 Observations Made in the Study of Tibetan Xylographs 451 Helmut Eimer PART 3 Exploring the Materiality of Prints and Manuscripts 20 Wooden Book-covers, Printing Blocks, their Identification and Dating – How to Read the Wood 471 Tomasz Ważny 21 The Five Colours of Art: Non-invasive Analysis of Pigments in Tibetan Prints and Manuscripts 485 Paola Ricciardi and Anuradha Pallipurath 22 Paper Plants in the Tibetan World: A Preliminary Study 501 Alessandro Boesi 23 The Choice of Materials in Early Tibetan Printed Books 532 Agnieszka Helman-Ważny 24 Paper, Patronage and Production of Books: Remarks on an 11th Century Manuscript from Central Tibet 555 Pasang Wangdu 25 Pattern Reproduction Possibilities and the Alpha and Omega of Tibetan Printing 560 T. H. Barrett Index 575 Acknowledgements This book reflects research involving many people and institutions over a num- ber of years, which it would be impossible to mention in a comprehensive way. We are grateful in particular to the British Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC Project “Transforming Technologies and Buddhist Book Culture – the introduction of printing and digital text reproduction in Tibetan societies”, PI Uradyn Bulag, grant number AH/H00159X/1), the ERC Marie Curie Fellowship scheme (for Michela Clemente, grant number 328247) and the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit of the University of Cambridge (MIASU) and Pembroke College for their support, which enabled the research projects, the conference “Printing as an Agent of Change in Tibet and beyond” and this volume. We also wish to thank the late Gene Smith, Zenkar Rinpoche Tuden Nima, dPal brtseg dpe rnying zhib ‘jug khang, Pasang Wangdu of the Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences, Burkhard Quessel of the British Library, TBRC and the Cambridge University Library staff for inspiration and support, as well as for making materials accessible. We are also very grateful to Libby Peachey, Anne Chippindale, Urmila Nair and Yangdon Dhondup for their coordination and editorial help in the process of production of this book, as well as to Terry Chilvers for his technical assistance during the conference and in the process- ing of digital materials from it. Finally, a special thank you goes to Thalien Colebrander, Do Mi Stauber and Patricia Radder for their support and patience in the finalisation of the publication. List of Illustrations, Tables and Maps Illustrations 3.1 Colophon of the Tsad ma rigs gter print 40 6.1 British Library, Stein painting 249 80 6.2 SHT 612, folio 173 recto 88 6.3 SHT 612, folio 173 verso 89 6.4 SHT 645, folio 30 recto 90 6.5 SHT 645, folio 30 verso 90 6.6 SHT 575, recto 91 6.7 SHT 646, recto 91 6.8 SHT 646, verso 91 6.9 Lithograph of the Śūdrakamalākara , folio 1 recto, title page 97 6.10 Lithograph of the Śūdrakamalākara , folio 1 verso 98 6.11 Lithograph of the Śūdrakamalākara , folio 2 verso and 3 recto 99 6.12 Lithograph of the Śūdrakamalākara , folio 94 verso, colophon 100 6.13 Lithograph of the Śūdrakamalākara , folio 95 verso 100 6.14 Manuscript of the Śūdrakamalākara , folio 1 recto 100 6.15 Manuscript of the Śūdrakamalākara , folio 1 verso 101 6.16 Manuscript of the Śūdrakamalākara , folio 124 recto, colophon 101 6.17 Manuscript of the Śūdrakamalākara , folio 124 verso, colophon 101 6.18 Kirātārjunīya , 1814 edition, title page 105 6.19 Kirātārjunīya , 1814 edition, page 1 106 6.20 Kirātārjunīya , 1814 edition, page 2 107 6.21 Kirātārjunīya , 1814 edition, folio 1 verso 108 6.22 Kirātārjunīya , 1847 edition, imprint 109 6.23 Kirātārjunīya , 1847 edition, page 1 110 8.1 Tabo, stone Kanjur, fol. kha 158 8.2 Wooden cubes, mobile ouighours types 162 8.3 Incomplete MS of the Śatasāhasrikā in Sanskrit 164 8.4 Fragment of the Madhyamāgama , in Sanskrit 165 8.5 Fragment of the ’Grel ba don gsal ba , in Tibetan 166 9.1 A Tibetan letter (TibHT 2) 176 9.2 Fragment of a scroll (TibHT 31) 177 9.3 A Buddhist manuscript (TibHT 63) 178 9.4 A prayer sheet (TibHT 49) 180 9.5 Mantra slips (TibHT 55) 181 9.6 Sheet with image and prayer (TibHT 107) 183 9.7 Paper sheet (TibHT 53) 184 xi list of illustrations, tables and maps 9.8 Fragment of a printed page (TibHT 69) 185 9.9 Pages from a concertina (TibHT 102) 186 10.1 1407 print of the ’Grel chung don gsal 199 10.2 lHa mdun print of the teachings of Seng ge rgyal mtshan 201 10.3 ‘Od gsal phug, early printing house 203 10.4 Na zlum 205 10.5 Folio 16 of the biography of Kun tu bzang 207 11.1–5 mTshan ldan bla ma dam pa mnyam med chos dbang rgyal mtshan gyi bka’ ’bum dkar chag mun sel sgron me 233 12.1 Nojin Gangsang and the sNa dkar rtse county 247 12.2 Yamdrok prints Folio 1v 247 12.3 Yamdrok prints Folio 169v 248 12.4 Yamdrok prints Folio 170r 248 12.5 Zur tsho prints 1v 251 12.6 Zur tsho prints 175r 251 12.7 Zur tsho prints 175v 251 12.8 ’Ol kha prints Folio 166v 252 12.9 ’Ol kha prints Folio 167r 252 13.1 Zur tsho with Mt Tsang lha in the background 271 13.2 The dPal de kho na nyid ‘dus pa snying po text 276 13.3 The Gung thang princess Chos kyi sgron ma (1422–1455) 278 13.4a The biography of Chos kyi sgron ma 278 13.4b The capital of Gung thang 279 13.5 sKyid grong valley 286 13.6 dPal mo chos sdings monastery 289 13.7 Kun tu bzang mo as depicted in her biography 290 13.8 Biography of Kun tu bzang mo 290 13.9 Nuns at Be rtse performing a tshogs ritual 298 13.10 Ani Rig ‘dzin lha mo 299 14.1 Block-print illustration of gTsang smyon Heruka 310 14.2 Block-print illustration of rGod tshang ras pa 313 14.3 Block-print illustration of ‘Jam dpal chos lha 315 14.4 Block-print illustration of Kun tu bzang mo 320 14.5 Block-print illustration of dNgos grub dpal 323 15.1 Royal Print of the Maṇi bka’ ‘bum 345 15.2 Portrait of Nor bu phun tshogs (1450–1521) 345 15.3 Portrait of bTsun pa Chos legs (1437–1521) 345 15.4–5 Illustrations of the Theg mchog mdzod printed in 1533 347–348 15.6 The bKa’ gdams glegs bam 349 15.7 The Story of Va ti bzang po 352 xii list of illustrations, tables and maps 15.8 The Six Secret Songs 352 15.9 Illustrations of the Jātakamālā 354 15.10 Jātakamālā 358 19.1 ’Phags pa bDe ba can smon lam 455 19.2 Thabs mkhas thugs rjes [ma] 457 19.3 gZungs chen sde lnga / Pañcarakṣā (fascicle ka ) 459 19.4 ’Phags pa gSer ‘od dam pa mdo sde’i dbang po rgyal po / Suvarṇaprabhāsa-Sūtra 460 19.5 Beijing Kanjur, left-hand section of leaf 45 recto 463 20.1 Cross-section of Himalayan birch ( Betula utilis ) 472 20.2 Number of tree-ring chronologies developed for High Asia in selected time-windows 476 20.3 rDzong in Lupra 477 20.4 Dating the growth sequences of remnants of pine beams in Lupra, southern Mustang 478 20.5 Used wooden block print 479 20.6–7 ‘The Book of Death’ 481–482 20.8 Tree-ring series representing ‘The Book of Death’ 482 21.1 Add. 1666, folios 1v and 2r 490 21.2 Add. 1666, detail 491 21.3 Tibetan 149 494 21.4–5 Tibetan 149, details 495 22.1 Stellera chamaejasme , Lithang, Sichuan, China 505 22.2 Folio (23R) from a Tibetan materia medica manuscript 517 23.1 Hemp ( Cannabis sativa ) fibres 538 23.2 Paper mulberry ( Broussonetia sp .) fibres 539 23.3 The paper of the Diamond Sutra’s panel 6 viewed against the light 539 23.4 Long and good-quality Daphne/Edgeworthia sp. fibres mixed with a small amount of Stellera chameajasme fibres 542 23.5 Daphne / Edgeworthia sp. fibres with added Stellera sp. fibres 543 23.6 The uniform, slender, and long fibres from the Thymeleaceae family plants 544 23.7 Daphne/Edgeworthia sp. fibres mixed with a small amount of Stellera chameajasme fibres 545 23.8 Daphne/Edgeworthia sp. fibre mixed with Stellera chameajasme fibres 546 23.9 The long fibres of the Thymeleaceae family plants 547 xiii list of illustrations, tables and maps 23.10 Stellera chamaejasme ( re lcag pa ) fibres 548 23.11 Hemp ( Cannabis sativa ) fibres 548 24.1 11th-century manuscript from Ke ru Monastery 556 Tables 6.1 Structural analysis of the colophons in the Śūdrakamalākara manu- script and lithograph 99 12.1 Comparative table 1 252 12.2 Comparative table 2 254 22.1 Wikstroemia species used for paper-making in Yunnan 511 22.2 Preliminary list of raw material sources for traditional paper in Chinese Tibetan regions 524 22.3 Raw material sources for traditional paper in Bhutan 527 Maps 9.1 Map of the Turfan basin 173 10.1 Map of the region of southern La stod and Mang yul Gung thang 198 18.1 Xylograph editions of the Mi la ras pa’i rNam thar and mGur ’bum 443 18.2 Xylograph editions of the Ma ni bka’ ’bum 444 18.3 Xylograph editions of the rGyud bzhi 445 20.1 Satellite map with position of tree-ring chronologies in High Asia 475 © hildegard diemberger, et al., ���6 | doi ��.��63/97890043�6�56_00� This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0. Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) License. Introduction Hildegard Diemberger, Franz-Karl Ehrhard and Peter Kornicki Almost three decades have passed since the publication of Elizabeth Eisenstein’s seminal work The printing press as an agent of change: commu- nications and cultural transformations in early modern Europe . Her sugges- tion that printing technology promoted dissemination, standardization, and preservation of texts impacting the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation and the Scientific Revolution has elicited intense debate up to the present day. Different perspectives, new research and cross-cultural insights have since complicated the picture, but some of the questions she raised proved to be extremely fertile in opening new terrains of investigation. Printing started to be a means of dissemination of texts in Tibet and in Europe at roughly the same time. In the 15th century blockprinting or xylogra- phy, which had long been practised in China1 was adopted in Tibet, becoming an important technology for the multiplication of texts and images, alongside manuscript production,2 and remaining so until the 20th century. Blockprinting in Tibetan script which had appeared before the end of the first millennium AD on the Silk Road alongside other Asian scripts (see van Schaik, Formigatti and Barrett in this volume), was used for the multiplication of Buddhist texts among the Tanguts in the 12th century and at the Yuan court in China in the 13th and the 14th centuries (see Schaeffer 2009). Blockprinting played a part in Europe too, albeit one that is not always fully recognised (see Chartier 2007: 400; Chow 2007: 169–192), but it was the printing press that became dominant and triggered what was defined by Eisenstein as the ‘printing revolution’ (Eisenstein 1979). This seminal study by Eisenstein provoked intense debates that have provided a more nuanced view of this momentous process: various scholars have pressed for interpretations that are not overly deterministic and have opened up a space for cross-cultural comparison that has brought together book cultures across the world (see for example Alcorn Baron, Lindquist, Shevlin 2007). Tibetan materials have, unfortunately, so far been absent from this discussion. While the editors of this volume do not believe that the analytic framework used in the study of the 1 See for example Barrett 2008. 2 Tibetan manuscript production started during the imperial period (6th–9th century) and played an important role in the framework of a wide range of Buddhist manuscript cultures (Berkwitz, Schober, Brown. 2009). 2 Introduction European ‘printing revolution’ can be easily exported, especially since it has been critically revised in a variety of ways in its European context, we think that it is worth exploring cross-culturally a range of interesting questions that have emerged from the relevant debates. It is with this agenda in mind that the conference “Printing as an agent of change in Tibet and beyond” was held at Pembroke College, Cambridge, on 28–30 November 2013. On that occa- sion, specialists in early Tibetan printing, the study of the book in Asia and Europe, as well as experts in paper, wood and pigment research gathered to explore the technology and materiality of Tibetan book culture in a wider per- spective. This volume brings together their contributions, which are organised in three sections with different focuses. Part 1 looks at the introduction of printing in Asian contexts, comparing and contrasting different experiences, with an eye to recent research on the European ‘printing revolution’ and the debates surrounding it. Some of the contributions address the relevant questions directly; others provide important reference materials and new discoveries that give insight into the use of printing as socio-technological process in its historical context and in a cross-cultural perspective. Peter Burke draws upon his vast knowledge of the subject to address the global history of the book, summarising the effects of print as the amplification of texts, the accumulation of knowledge, the fixation of languages and texts, the relativisation of knowledge and the constitution of communities through print as discussed by Benedict Anderson. He also draws attention to the impor- tance of the roads not taken, such as the lack of interest in typography in China after its invention in the eleventh century and the extreme reluctance to take to print in the Islamic world. He also considers whether a technology could be said to be an ‘agent’ of change and concludes that it could if the consequences were unintended by the human agents involved. Johan Elverskog highlights the insignificance of vernacular printing in Mongolia and strongly emphasizes the lack of any sense in Asia that printing was ‘revolutionary’ or something to be celebrated like the supposed hundredth anniversary of Gutenberg in Europe in 1540. Leonard Van der Kuijp analyses the way in which books were the medium for the transfer of knowledge across cultures from the Chinese translations of missionaries’ works based on Tychos Brahe’s and Johannes Kepler’s astronomi- cal studies to the assimilation of this knowledge in the Tibetan context. Other comparative contributions come from Camillo Formigatti, who draws atten- tion to the very late development of Sanskrit printing in India, and from Imre Galambos, who focuses on printing by the Tanguts in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and the coexistence of manuscript and print production in that con- texts. The papers by Peter Kornicki and Sherab Sangpo draw attention to the 3 Introduction role of women, especially elite women, in the promotion of printing: from the Japanese empress Shōtoku to the Mongolian empresses who promoted some of the earliest examples of Tibetan printing produced at the Yuan court in the 13th century. Cristina Scherrer-Schaub explores the question of the rela- tionship between print and manuscript production by reflecting on the work of Paul Pelliot while Sam Van Schaik provides a fascinating insight into Tibetan printed fragments from the Turfan Oasis, a melting pot of different languages and civilizations. Part 2 explores the inception of block printing in Tibet and the Himalayas, looking at its origins and impacts and presenting new discoveries. Exploring this innovation as a socio-technological process, it addresses a number of important questions. How did printing relate to manuscript production in the Tibetan context? Was the introduction of printing a small-scale operation with limited impact or was it something that had transformative effects? In what ways did it relate to the spread of literate forms of popular religiosity, the stan- dardization of monastic curricula, the emergence of certain literary genres and the establishment of certain works as classics? Did the printing of key works such as the Mani bka’ ’bum have an impact on a shared sense of history and identity among Tibetans? Porong Dawa, Tsering Dawa Sharshon, and Franz-Karl Ehrhard present new discoveries casting light on the beginnings of printing in Tibet itself, show- ing that from the opening years of the 15th century a variety of works began to be printed in Tibet including Buddhist texts, the collected writings of reli- gious teachers, biographies and medical works. Dorji Gyaltsen of the National Library of Bhutan explores the early history of the book in Bhutan, where, for the most part, the need for books was supplied by imports from Tibet. However, at least from the sixteenth century, and probably even earlier, books were being printed in Bhutan that met local needs, such as biographies of reli- gious figures and literary writings by Bhutanese. Hildegard Diemberger explores networks of Tibetan women involved in printing operations, highlighting women’s roles within patronage structures that supported book production and sometimes promoted innovation in book technology. Among these women was Kun tu bzang mo, the driving force behind the printing of the life and songs of gTsang smyon Heruka (1452–1507). Stefan Larsson gives a detailed analysis of four texts that were printed by her as these give insight into the conditions of their production as well as the net- works of craftsmen and patrons she relied upon. Marta Sernesi focuses on the life and work of mkhas pa Dri med, one of the better-known artists involved in printing projects in Mang yul Gung thang; this is a rare instance in which an artist’s individual trajectory, as reflected in a painstaking work of collation of 4 Introduction relevant sources, offers a glimpse into the esthetics, expertise and patronage involved in printing projects. On the basis of a study of colophons from the same region, Michela Clemente raises fundamental questions relating to the socio-technological process behind the relatively rapid emergence of printing projects and printing houses in 15th/16th century Tibet: was this an unacknowledged ‘printing revolution’? The question is still open; certainly Mang yul Gung thang provided the hub for important printing projects that saw the dissemination of certain texts across Tibet. Benjamin Nourse, in a fascinating exploration of the distribution of cer- tain key texts over space and time, shows enlightening connections between the early days of printing and later printing projects. Helmut Eimer provides us with precious insights, both in terms of data and methods, in the analysis of Tibetan xylographs focusing especially on 18thcentury canonical materials. Part 3 explores the materiality and technology of Tibetan prints by looking at paper and wood as well as pigments and dyes. The contributions present research on historical materials, connecting them – when possible – to living traditions of craftsmanship. The papers by Agnieszka Helman-Ważny and Alessandro Boesi focus on the production of paper and the plants used to produce different types of paper, documenting some of the earliest known examples of Tibetan paper that date back to the 9th and the 10th centuries and exploring the differences in the paper used in printed books and manuscripts. Pasang Wangdu’s analysis of an 11th- century Tibetan manuscript, which in its colophon refers to the scriptorium, the patronage and the materials involved in book production, shows that this kind of practice must be seen as a direct precursor of printing workshops. The contribution by Tomasz Ważny focuses on the wood involved in the produc- tion of printing blocks and book covers, drawing attention to different meth- ods of analysis, including dendrochronology, and suggesting further research on the use of Himalayan birch. Paola Ricciardi and Anuradha Pallipurath show what can be learnt from non-invasive pigment analysis applied to the study of painted illustrations in manuscripts and prints and emphasize that this information can complement the study of book production by connecting materials to artists, artisans and trade. At the conference, these contributions were complemented by a demonstration by Burkhard Quessel (British Library) and Terry Chilvers (University of Cambridge) of the database of the project ‘Transforming technologies and Buddhist book culture’ (http://www.innera siaresearch.org/T_Msite/tmindex.html), which provides a unique resource bringing together different approaches to the study of books, from the analysis of content to that of the relevant materials. 5 Introduction Finally, Tim Barrett with a real tour de force that ranges across history and cultures sets Tibetan printing in the framework of a wider reflection on pattern reproduction and raises some intriguing questions on a Tibetan printed frag- ment included in the Dunhuang collection. By exploring different aspects of Tibetan printing and its relationship to manuscript production and use, the authors of these papers hope to open up new avenues of research and reflection that set Tibetan book production in the wider context of the studies of the book. Although printing in Tibet does not seem to have had the kind of socially transformative effects highlighted in Eisenstein’s study, it did have some of the important effects pointed out by Peter Burke, such as the accumulation of knowledge and the fixation of lan- guages and texts. This was true in the Tibetan context, despite some important caveats in that printed texts could be seen as faulty and in need of amend- ment (see for example van der Kujip 2010: 441ff) and the drive towards stan- dardisation was already important for scriptoria producing manuscripts (see Schaeffer 2009). While there are references to printing projects that took place in the Chab mdo region as early as 1207 (van der Kujip 2010: 441ff), it seems that it was only in the fifteenth century that printing became commonly employed in Central and Western Tibet: in one of the earliest scholarly surveys of the subject, David Jackson reports that he had come across Tibetan printed texts dating to the fifteenth century in most libraries he visited (Jackson 1990). Indeed, recent research has recovered many early such exemplars, and in Tibet an increas- ing number are coming to light: one of the newly-discovered works presented by Porong Dawa in this volume is the earliest extant printed item from Tibet and is dated 1407. Some are editions that achieved only local relevance, while others became important classics. There is a range of texts, the most famous of which are noted in Ben Nourse’s contribution, that seem to have been pro- pelled to further dissemination and influence after having been printed in editions that ended up being seen as authoritative. These texts range from Milarepa’s biography and songs by gTsang smyon Heruka, to the Mani bKa’ ’bum and the bKa’ gdam glegs bam among others. Franz-Karl Ehrhard (2013) has already drawn attention to the pivotal role of the Mani bka’ ’bum , printed in Mang yul Gung thang, which travelled to Bhutan where it was re-carved and eventually became part of the authoritative texts used by the Fifth Dalai Lama (see also Kapstein 2000: 260, n. 9 and Sernesi forthcoming). Central in the development of the cult of Avalokiteśvara and of a shared narrative reflect- ing Tibet’s imperial legacy, this text played an important part in what George Dreyfus (1994: 205–218) defines as Tibetan ‘proto-nationalism’; its printing is