Sikkimese and Tibetan Buddhist Manuscripts · Himalayas
Sikkimese and Tibetan Buddhist Manuscripts
North American Collections - Toronto
The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, holds a collection of 70 manuscripts and 101 woodblock-printed books in the MacDonald Collection. These are primarily Tibetan texts, with some books from Sikkim and Nepal. The Hidden Stories project works on provenance research on books in the MacDonald Collection, research on sewn bookbindings, as well as the study of ritual use of books in the collection. This work is led by Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia (Hidden Stories), with research support by Thinley Gyatso (PhD Candidate in Buddhist Studies, U of T), James Canary (Lilly Library, Indiana U), and Tim Perry (U of T Libraries).
A Sikkimese manuscript with ritual thumbprint on the opening leaf. A collection of treasure texts containing meditative and ritual practices (rDa rje snying po sprin gyi thol glu), 19th c.. Toronto, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Tibetan MSS 00033.
Sewn binding on a Tibetan compilation of biographical and folklore texts in the MacDonald collection. Toronto, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Tibetan MSS 00055 and 00056.
Thinley Gyatso (U of T) reading a woodblock-printed pothi-style book at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Toronto.
Detail of a sewn book - an 18th-c. medical compendium (sman yig gces bsdus). Toronto, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Tibetan MSS 00029.
Fold book - a copy of rtsa gsum rab 'byams rgya mtshor mchod pa’i rnam bshad, a ritual text used during tantric sadhana practice. Toronto, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Tibetan MSS 00051.
