Manuscript - Plant fiber, Palm leaves, Wood, - Asia

This book is a manuscript, but of a very particular kind.

Palm-leaf manuscripts are manuscripts made from dried palm leaves.

These leaves have been used as writing material in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia at least as early as the 5th century BC.

Their name is Lontar: the term is composed of two ancient Javanese words, namely "ron" meaning leaf and "tal" meaning palm tree.

The palm leaves, first cooked and dried, were engraved with a kind of penknife; colors were then applied to their surface and erased, leaving the ink in the engraved grooves.

Each sheet usually had a hole through which a string could be passed, and in this way the sheets were tied together.

Most of the books had a protective case made of bamboo and finely decorated with ornamental motifs.

A Lontar could contain writings on religious rites and laws, it could deal with astronomy and astrology, homeopathy and healing, talk about stories and epics, history and genealogy, performing arts and illustrated stories.

2 wooden covers, one of which is hand-engraved, 16 pages of palm leaves engraved on both sides, a hand-woven cord.

Size: 36.5 x 8.5 xh 4.7 Weight 750 gr.