Category Archives: Palaeography

Composite manuscripts in medieval China: The case of scroll P.3720 from Dunhuang

Posted on 04/30/2017 by imre

Imre Galambos, “Composite manuscripts in medieval China: The case of scroll P.3720 from Dunhuang.” In Michael Friedrich and Cosima Schwarke, eds., One-Volume Libraries: Composite Manuscripts and Multiple Text Manuscripts. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2016, 355–378. Manuscript Pelliot chinois 3720 (hereafter: P.3720) … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese manuscript, Codicology, Dunhuang, Palaeography, published papers, Scribal habits | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Scribbles on the verso of manuscripts written by lay students in Dunhuang

Posted on 04/30/2017 by imre

Imre Galambos, “Scribbles on the verso of manuscripts written by lay students in Dunhuang.” Tonkō shahon kenykū nenpō 敦煌寫本硏究年報 (2016) 10, 497–522. The vast corpus of Dunhuang manuscripts includes a series of items with what we may call ‘educational texts’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese manuscript, Codicology, Dunhuang, Palaeography, published papers, Scribal habits, students | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

She association circulars from Dunhuang

Posted on 10/17/2015 by imre

“She association circulars from Dunhuang.” In Antje Richter, ed., History of Chinese Epistolary Culture. (Handbuch der Orientalistik.) Leiden: Brill, 2015: 853–877. This is an article published in Antje Richter’s volume on the history of Chinese epistolary culture, which is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Character variants, Codicology, Dating, Dunhuang, Mistakes, Orthography, Palaeography, Scribal habits | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Punctuation marks in medieval Chinese manuscripts

Posted on 10/17/2015 by imre

This article about punctuation marks mainly in the Dunhuang manuscripts came out recently. It is sort of an inventory of the most important types of marks used in the manuscripts, although it is certainly not complete in its scope. Imre … Continue reading →

Posted in Codicology, Corrections, Dunhuang, Palaeography, published papers, Punctuation | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Studies in Chinese manuscripts – A new book

Posted on 11/22/2013 by imre

My new edited volume came out recently with the title Studies in Chinese Manuscripts: From the Warring States Period to the 20th Century (Budapest: Institute of East Asian Studies, ELTE). It has twelve studies all related to Chinese manuscripts. The bulk … Continue reading →

Posted in 20th century, archaeology, Dunhuang, Mistakes, Orthography, Palaeography, published papers, Scribal habits | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Correction marks in the Dunhuang manuscripts

Posted on 08/22/2013 by imre

With their span of six hundred some years, the Dunhuang manuscripts are a valuable witness of the process of textual transmission in medieval China. Beside looking at this process from the perspective of texts and their many versions or editions, … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese writing, Corrections, Dunhuang, Mistakes, Palaeography, published papers, Scribal habits | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Taboo characters in Buddhist manuscripts from Dunhuang

Posted on 06/18/2013 by imre

This is an article that came out in China so the font is a bit–but it is still readable. In the article, I examine how consistently imperial name taboos were observed in Buddhist texts from Dunhuang. Many scholars in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Character variants, Chinese writing, Dating, Dunhuang, Orthography, Palaeography, published papers, Scribal habits | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Odd variants in a Buddhist manuscript

Posted on 08/20/2012 by imre

There is a Dunhuang copy of the Da fangbian Fo baoenjing 大方便佛報恩經 (The sutra of requiting kindness) at the National Library of China (shelfmark BD01534) which has a number of interesting character variants. One of them is the character 爾 … Continue reading →

Posted in Character variants, Chinese writing, Dating, Dunhuang, Orthography, Palaeography, Scribal habits | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Grid lines in medieval Chinese scrolls: Functionality or design?

Posted on 02/09/2012 by imre

Medieval manuscript scrolls are often ruled with grid lines to guide the hand of the calligrapher. These lines are a basic feature of most standard Buddhist and Taoist scrolls, which typically have 17 characters per line and 27-28 (or 31) … Continue reading →

Posted in archaeology, Chinese writing, Dunhuang, epigraphy, Palaeography, Scribal habits | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Manuscripts and Travellers in your local bookstore

Posted on 12/22/2011 by imre

Sam van Schaik and Imre Galambos, Manuscripts and Travellers: The Sino-Tibetan Documents of a Tenth-Century Buddhist Pilgrim (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2012). Our book is finally out. It all started about 5 years ago when Sam asked me if I wanted to join … Continue reading →

Posted in archaeology, Aurel Stein, books, Dunhuang, Palaeography, published papers, Scribal habits, Tibetan, Travel | Tagged , , | Leave a comment