Tibet
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A note on OCLC
As is now the norm, OCLC counts are tentative, at best, as we recognize that searches using different qualifiers will often turn up different results. Searches are now further complicated by the vast numbers of digital, microfilm, and even print-on-demand copies, which have polluted the database considerably, making it difficult, without numerous phone calls or emails, to determine the actual number of tangible copies. Hence, even though the counts herein have been recently checked, most all should be taken as a measure of approximation.
1. Rnam ʼdren bźi pa bdag cag gi ston pa rdzogs paʼi saṅs rgyas bcom ldan das kyi mdzad rnam gsal bar bkod pa thar lam gsal baʼi sgron me: Art book [= Art of the twelve accomplishments of Buddha]. Gangtok: Sikkim Research Institute of Tibetology, 1998.
$100
4to, pp. [12], 111, [1]; text in Tibetan with English introduction; 12 color plates; publisher's red cloth gilt; boards soiled, one page with a stain at bottom edge, light bumping, very good in a near fine dust jacket.
British Library and State Library of Berlin only in OCLC.
2. Structural form and utterance context in Lhasa Tibetan. Grammar and indexicality in a non-configurational language. New York et al.: Peter Lang, 1993.
$60
8vo, pp. xi, [1], 269, [3]; printed paper-covered boards; fine.
Monographs in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Language, Vol. 2.
3. The Jebumgang Temple. Ritual architecture and the defense of the modern Tibetan state. [Schongau]: Garuda Books, [2019].
$60
First edition, 8vo, pp. 89, [3]; text illustrations; printed gray boards; fine.
"The Jebumgang temple, with its ornamental gilt roof, was a highly visible landmark on the northern skyline of the old city of Lhasa, yet it attracted little attention, and its story seems to have been largely unknown. This study locates its origins in an intriguing period of the city's modern history - the reassertion of Tibetan political authority during the last decades of the Manchu empire, and the accession to power of the 13th Dalai Lama - and considers the questions that this raises about the role of Nyingmapa ritual and prophecy in the resurgence of the Ganden Potrang state, and the emergence of a sectarian controversy that has haunted it ever since."
4. 梵藏漢對照詞典 / Fan Zang Han dui zhao ci dian [= Sanskrit-Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary]. [Beijing]: Minority Nationalities Press, 1993.
$60
Second edition, 8¼" x 5¾", pp. [2], 19, [1], 961, [3]; text in double column; full black cloth; a little musty, small dent and stain on top edge, text clean and sound, very good.
The Sanskrit in this case refers to Sanskrit loan words into Tibetan, with the entries in Tibetan orthography.
5. To the untouched mountain: the New Zealand conquest of Molamenqing, Tibet. [Wellington: A. H. and A. W. Reed Ltd, 1983].
$35
First edition, 8vo, pp. [6], 242; map endpapers. 34 color illustrations from photographs on rectos and versos of 6 plates; fine copy in a fine dust jacket.
Yakushi A215: "Account of the 1981 New Zealand expedition to Molamenqing (7703m), a satellite peak of Xixabangma in Tibet."
6. Soviet Russia and Tibet. The debacle of secret diplomacy 1918-1930s. Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2003.
$125
8vo, pp. xxi, [1], 433, [1]; map, 30 illustrations from photographs on rectos and versos of 8 plates; fine in original pictorial yellow cloth. Issued as volume 4 in Brill's Tibetan Studies Library series, edited by Henk Blezer, Alex McKay, Charles Ramble.
7. Impressions of Bhutan and Tibetan art. Leiden, Boston, Koln: Brill, 2002.
$65
8vo, pp. xi, [1], 150; 45 illustrations (mostly in color) on rectos and versos of 16 plates, plus 3 illustrations in the text; fine in original pictorial yellow cloth. Issued as volume 2/3 in Brill's Tibetan Studies Library series, edited by Henk Blezer, Alex McKay, Charles Ramble.
Eleven papers (5 on Bhutan and 6 on Tibet) from PIATS 2000: Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000.
8. Tibetan studies in honour of Hugh Richardson. Proceedings of the International Seminar of Tibetan Studies, Oxford 1979. Oxford: Aris & Phillips Ltd. Warminster England, [1980].
$50
8vo, pp. xx, 348; text illustrations; printed paper wrappers; wrappers a little toned, text clean and sound, near fine.
9. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, volume LVI, Part 1. No. I. Calcutta: printed at the Baptist Mission Press, and published by the Asiatic Society, 1887.
$45
8vo, pp. 35, [1]; original printed front wrapper bound in and backed in rice paper; later half green calf, gilt-stamped spine; the text block considerably toned and good, at best, but in a nice binding nonetheless.
Includes: "A Brief Account of Tibet" from Dsam Ling Gyeshe, by Sarat Chandra Das; and "Sita's Window or Buddha's Shadow Cave," by S.J. Cockburn.
10. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, volume LX, Part 1. No. II. Calcutta: printed at the Baptist Mission Press, and published by the Asiatic Society, 1891.
$35
8vo, pp. [17]-96; 1 lithograph plate at the back; original printed front wrapper bound in later half green calf, gilt-stamped spine; the first 8 leaves loose from textblock; the text block considerably toned and fair, at best, but in a nice binding nonetheless.
Includes: "Report on the Boria or Lakha Medi Stúpa near Junagadh," by Henry Cousens, M.R.A.S., Archæological Surveyor of Western India. (With a Plate); "Notes on some Kolarian Tribes, No. II," by W. H. P. Driver; "Há- shang-rgyal-po and Ug-tad, a Dialogue. From the Tibetan," by Karl Marx, Missionary at Leh; "Ladakh Life of Atísa (Dípamkara S'ríjñána)," by Babu Sarat Chandra Dás, C. I. E.; "Place and River-Names in the Darjiling District and Sikhim," By L. A. Waddell, M. B.; and, "On the date of the Bower MS," by A. F. Rudolf Hoernle, PH. D.
11. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, volume LXII, Part III. No. 1. Calcutta: printed at the Baptist Mission Press, and published by the Asiatic Society, 1893.
$35
8vo, pp. 53, [1]; original printed front wrapper bound in later half green calf, gilt-stamped spine; front wrapper chipped at extremities and backed with rice paper, first leaf torn in the gutter and loose (but present), a few tears in the margins throughout, and last leaf backed in rice paper and showing tears; the text block considerably toned and fair, at best, but in a nice binding nonetheless.
Includes: "Prolegomena Anthropologica," by H. H. Risley; "Marriage Customs of Tibet," by Saray Chundra; "Miscellanea Ethnographica," by the late Dr. James Wise; "Jauhari," by the late Dr. James Wise; and, "Measurements of Cingalese Moormen and Tamils taken at Ceylon," by H. H. Risaler, C.I.E.
12. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, volume LXXIII, Part 1. Extra no. - 1904. Calcutta: printed at the Baptist Mission Press, and published by the Asiatic Society, 1905.
$75
8vo, pp. 116; errata slip tipped in at the front, 2 numismatic plates at the back; original printed wrappers bound in later half green calf, gilt-stamped spine; front wrapper a little spotted, the text slightly toned; all else very good and sound.
Includes: "Some Notes on the Bahmani Dynasty," by Major W. Ηaig; On Some Archeological Remains in Bishnath," by W. N. Edwards; "Vidyapati Thakur," by Nogendra Nath Gupta; "A Note on Mahāmahataka Candeśvara Thakkura of Mithila," by Mr. Justice Saroda Charan Mitra; "The Later Mughals (1707-1803)," by William Irvine, I.C.S. (Retired); "Some Kolarian Riddles current among the Mundaris in Chota Nagpur, Bengal," by Rev. Paul Wagner, G.E.L. Mission, Purulia; "The Hierarchy of the Dalai Lama (1406-1745)," by Rai Sarat Chandra Das, Bahadur, C.I.E.; "Tibet under the Tatar Emperors of China in the 13th Century A.D.," by Rai Sarat Chandra Das, Bahadur, C.I.E., and a Numismatic Supplement.
13. Tibet and adjacent areas under Communist China's occupation 1:34,200,000. Dharmsāla: Amnyee Machen Institute, Tibetan Center for Advanced Studies, 2001.
$45
Large color folding map approx. 21½" x 32", folding to 8" x 53½", generally fine. Issued as no. 2 in the publisher's Cartographical Series.
"Map shows ethnic distribution by counties and municipalities under the P.R.C. occupation; international, provincial, prefectural and county boundaries; township and monasteries; provincial headquarters. "This map indicates ethnic distribution as represented and demarcated by the P.R.C. and may not represent actual ethnic composition and demarcation of a given area. The ethnic distribution on this maps is also shown down to the county level and does not include any smaller administrative units". Includes Index of Tibet counties with "autonomous" status, and counties traditionally or historically inhabited by Tibetans. Administrative divisions valid as of July 1996" (Princeton).
14. Reiserouten des Indischen Punditen A-K- in Gross Tibet und der Mongolei 1879-1882. Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1885.
$200
Folding color lithograph map approx. 21½" x 18", extracted from Petermans Geographische Mitteilungen showing a good part of Central Asia, including Tibet and Mongolia, with an inset of Lhasa; small breaks at the extremities, but generally very good and clean.
G. W. E. Atkinson was a British military surveyor who worked for the British Survey of India. This map shows the routes of seven journeys through the region by Europeans and native Tibetans and Indians, including that of Pundit A. K. in 1879-82; the renowned Russian explorer Colonel Przewalski's three journeys in 1873; in 1876-77; and in 1879-80; and Count Széchenyi's journey in 1879-80, among others. Also noted are the various peaks and passes, temples and monasteries, villages, rivers, official shelters, and hot springs.
15. Bulletin de l'Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient, tome XLIV, fasc. 2. Paris: Imprimerie nationale; Hanoi: Ecole française d'extrême orient, 1954.
$75
Large 8vo, pp. [4], 275-694, [2]; original printed wrappers a little toned, else near fine.
Contains fifteen academic articles focusing on Tibetan studies, Yogācāra Buddhism, and Southeast Asian art, including Jacques Bacot: Titres et colophons d'ouvrages non canoniques tibétains. (An examination of non-canonical Tibetan literary colophons and titles, pp. 275–337); and Paul Demiéville: La Yogācārabhūmi de Sangharaksa. (A detailed study on the text of Sangharaksa, pp. 339–436).
Jacques Bacot (1877-1965) was an explorer and pioneering French Tibetologist. He travelled extensively in India, western China, and the Tibetan border regions. He worked at the École pratique des hautes études. Bacot was the first western scholar to study the Tibetan grammatical tradition, and along with F. W. Thomas (1867–1956) belonged to the first generation of scholars to study the Old Tibetan Dunhuang manuscripts" (Wikipedia).
Paul Demiéville (1894-1979) was one of the foremost sinologists of the first half of the 20th century, and "was known for his wide-ranging contributions to Chinese and Buddhist scholarship. He is known also for his studies of the Dunhuang manuscripts and Buddhism and his translations of Chinese poetry" (Wikipedia)
16. Eastern Tibet: bridging Tibet and China ... Translated by Nicole Willock. [Bangkok]: Orchid Press, [2002].
$50
First edition in English, folio, pp. xi, [1], 344; 4 maps, profusely illustrated throughout, much in color; fine copy in a fine dust jacket.
"Illustrated with more than 250 extraordinary color photographs, [this] is the first study dedicated solely to the culture of Eastern Tibet — a territory where more Tibetans reside than in the so- called 'Tibetan Autonomous Region'. The illuminating text is the result of fieldwork conducted by both authors over several years. The brilliant and inspiring images feature people, landscapes, and cultural objects, often documented for the first time" (jacket blurb).
17. Elementa litteratureae Brahmanicae Tangutanae Mungalicae [and] Elementa Brahmanica, Tangutana, Mungalica. [drop titles extracted from] Commentarii Academiae scientiarum imperialis Petropolitanae. [St. Petersburg: Typis Academiae, 1735 & 1741?].
$750
4to, two extracted sections from the Commentarii Academiae scientiarum imperialis Petropolitanae, as follows.
Bayer, T. S., "Elementa litteraturae Brahmanicae Tangutanae Mungalicae." pp. 353-365, [1]; ostensibly extracted from "Tome. III" but with the incorrect foliation and pagination for the original printing of 1728;
bound with: the "Observationes Astronomicae" section of the same volume with observations by Joseph-Nicolas Delisle pp. 369-403, [1]; ostensibly extracted from "Tome. III" but with the same issue as above;
bound with: Bayer, T. S., "Elementa Brahmanica, Tangutana, Mungalica." pp. [289]-296, 241-245, [1] (pagination defective but text complete); extracted from "Tom. IV" and correct as such;
bound with articles following the Bayer paper, consisting of pages 246-311, [1] of the Commentarii Tom. IV.
with 20 folding plates, largely reproducing a trilingual document that was one of the first texts in Tibetan known to have entered Russia; the whole bound in modern black cloth, gilt title on spine; the edge of one leaf and one plate frayed, penciling on the first leaf of text, light foxing to edges of Tom. IV extracts; very good.
Bayer's two-part article in the Commentarii represents the first attempt in the West to describe the Tibetan writing system. The second part of this copy is the first printing of this paper, but the first half appears to be a later, 1741 reprint, as are the first ten plates of the set of 20.
18. Testimonies of Tibetan Tulkus: a research among reincarnate Buddhist masters in exile. Volume I: Materials. Volume II: Appendices. Rikon [Switzerland]: Tibet-Institut, 1982.
$150
First edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, pp. [iii]-777, [1]; 256, [2]; printed from typescript; text in English, introduction in German, interviews in English, French or German, with glossaries of Tibetan names and terms; maps, portraits; fine copy in original printed ochre wrappers. Issued as Fascicles 15a and 15b in the publisher's Opuscula Tibetana series.
"A tulku (also tülku, trulku) is an individual recognized as the reincarnation of a previous spiritual master (lama), and expected to be reincarnated, in turn, after death. The tulku is a distinctive and significant aspect of Tibetan Buddhism, embodying the concept of enlightened beings taking corporeal forms to continue the lineage of specific teachings. The term "tulku" is a loanword from Tibetan སྤྲུལ་སྐུ ("sprul sku"), which originally referred to an emperor or ruler taking human form on Earth, signifying a divine incarnation" (Wikipedia).
19. Medieval Tibeto-Burman languages III. [Halle]: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, 2008.
$30
8vo, pp. 201, [3]; gray paper wrappers, fine.
Produced after the third Medieval Tibet-Burman Language Symposium held Augst 31st, 2006.
20. Kailas & Manasarovar. After 22 years in Shiva's domain. New Delhi: Allied Publishers, 1984.
$40
First edition, 8vo, pp. vi, [2], 79, [1]; full-page map, 32 illustrations from photographs on rectos and versos of 8 plates; fine copy in the dust jacket.
"In a remote and barren corner of Western Tibet lie Mt. Kailas and Lake Manasarovar. The retreat of Lord Shiva, the destroyer, and Parvati, his consort - the highest and noblest of Hindu pilgrim spots, an important component of the Hindu psyche, Kailas and Manasarovar have drawn millions of Hindus to perform the traditional parikramas (circumambulations) of the lake and the majestic mountain. This pilgrim route closed for 22 years was opened in September 1981. This travelogue is an account of this historic pilgrimage" (jacket blurb).
21. The religion of Tibet. Oxford: at the Clarendon Press, [1968].
$35
Second edition, Indian issue, 8vo, pp. xv, [1], 235, [1]; 3 maps (2 folding), frontispiece, and 68 illustrations on rectos and versos of 47 plates; a very good copy in original orange cloth, spine slightly discolored, and preserving a rough dust jacket, chipped and with tears, and missing the front flap. The British issue is in blue cloth and the design of the dust jacket is different.
22. The secret of Tibet. Chicago: Goldsmith Publishing Company, [1938].
$75
First edition, 8vo, pp. [6], 11-251, [1]; text toned; original blue pictorial cloth a bit spotted, preserving the dust jacket which shows a small tear at the top of the spine, a small piece missing from the top of the lower panel, and a sunned spine.
The only edition of this title until it was reprinted in Delhi in 1997. This novel for young readers concerns twin American aviators who find themselves stranded in China.
23. [Benedict, Paul K.] Linguistics of the Sino-Tibetan area: the state of the art. [Canberra]: Australian National University, [1985].
$100
8vo, pp. vii, [1], 498, 21, [1]; full blue cloth. red speckled edges, plastic dust jacket; gift inscription on free endpaper, fine.
Includes an appreciation, biography, and bibliography of Paul K. Benedict. With papers on Prehistoric Cis-Yangtzeana and outside influence of Chinese; East and Southeast Asian areal phenomena; Sino-Tibetan historical phonology; synchronic grammar; historical grammar; and lexicon and semantics.
24. Monks, spies and a soldier of fortune: the Japanese in Tibet. London: Athlone, [1995].
$35
First edition, 8vo, pp. xi, [1], 352; map endpapers, a fine copy in the dust jacket.
"During the first half of the twentieth century, as Tibet opened its doors to the West, the country was visited by a number of Japanese. Two were monks investigating Tibetan Buddhism; two others were more worldly clerics hoping to manipulate Tibetan politics. Of the laymen, two were spies, one was a soldier of fortune and a fourth was the author of a three-volume adventure story. The present book, based on research into Japanese sources, recounts this virtually unknown episode in the history of travel and exploration" (jacket blurb).
25. The blind road. By Forepoint Severn. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood & Sons, 1938.
$45
First edition, 8vo, pp. vi, 442; pictorial/map endpapers; gift inscription on free endpaper, a good, sound, and clean copy in original blue cloth stamped in gilt on the upper cover, red and gilt stamping on spine.
Yakushi B-324: "Fictional account based in fact, of military and political adventure and exploration, on the NE-Frontier and in SE-Tibet." Leonard Arthur Bethell (1879–1950), a soldier and author. "He is chiefly significant as an author, providing a direct, unheroic and unvarnished narrative of British efforts to administer the Northern jungles of Assam during the early 20th century, often providing an alternative view to the official accounts" (Wikipedia). He was also attached to the Younghusband Expedition of 1903-04 as well as the Abor Expedition in Assam 1911-12.
26. The sixteen netens: thang-kas. Tibet House collection, New Delhi. Paris: Editions Sciaky, 1984.
$325
Edition limited to 700 copies, large folio (approx. 19½" x 13"), pp. 24; numerous illustrations in color, pictorial wrappers; accompanied by a large bifolium of 'Notes,' plus 23 large color plates, each within a printed wrap-around sleeve of hand-made Tibetan paper; all contained within a large folding cloth-covered box, with thongs.
The Preface by His Holiness the Dalai Lama; "Tibet House" by Doboom Tulku; foreword by Kalsang Yeshi; and the introduction by Gilles Béguin.
Descriptive letterpress in English, French and Tibetan. "The present volume reproduces an 18th-century set of paintings representing the Buddha and the sixteen Arhats (Tib. gNas-brtan-bou-drug)."
27. Mystic Tibet and the Himalaya. Darjeeling: [Gilbert & Co., 1948].
$75
First edition, 8vo, pp. [17], 18-306; frontispiece portrait, 14 illustrations on rectos and versos of 7 plates; some spotting but a very good copy in original blue cloth stamped in black on upper cover and spine; retaining the dust jacket which has loss at the top of the spine affecting the word 'Mystic,' and several other small breaks at the folds.
Yakushi B338.
28. Mystic Tibet and the Himalaya. Delhi: Gian Publishing House, [1987].
$35
Reprint edition, 8vo, pp. [17], 18-306; frontispiece portrait, 13 illustrations on rectos and versos of 7 plates; original red cloth; a few spots on cover, but generally a fine copy in a fine dust jacket.
Sections on Darjeeling, Kangchenjunga, Sikkim, the Himalaya, and Tibet.
Yakushi B338.
29. Bhoṭa-prakāśa: a Tibetan chrestomathy with introduction, skeleton grammar, notes, texts and vocabularies by Vidhushekhara Bhattacharya. Calcutta: University of Calcutta, 1939.
$60
First edition, 8vo, pp. lix, [1], 578; errata slip tipped in at the back; later black cloth-backed red decorative paper-covered boards; very good, sound, and clean. Title in Sanskrit at the head of the title page.
Tibetan texts with Sanskrit translations. The Prajñādaṇḍa text has also Roman transliteration; the Rūpādityakatha text with English translation. The lengthy preface and introduction are in English. Includes a Tibetan-Sanskrit-English and Sanskrit-Tibetan-English vocabularies. The preface includes a bibliography of the sources of the texts and the appendix consists of a general bibliography.
30. Исторія Тибета и Хухунора съ 2282 года до Р. Х. до 1227 года по Р. Х. ... Переведена съ Китайскаго Монахомъ І. Бичуринымъ. / Istoriia Tibeta... [= History of Tibet and Khukhunor . . . translated from the Chinese]. St. Petersburg: Academy of Sciences, 1833.
$4,500
First edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, pp. xxxi, [1], 258; ix (i.e., x), 259, [1]; engraved title page in each volume, folding engraved map hand-colored in outline (very short tear entering from the guard); contemporary half calf over marbled boards; the binding is rubbed, but sound, and internally clean.
Nikita Yakovlevich Bichurin (1777-1853) was an outstanding Russian sinologist and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Better known under his archimandrite monastic name Hyacinth, or Iakinf, he was one of the founding fathers of Russian Sinology. A monk from 1800, Iakinf was appointed in 1807 as the superior of the Orthodox mission in Peking (Beijing) and spent 14 years there. He translated the Orthodox liturgy and compiled a catechism in Chinese. More scholar than monk by nature, Iakinf immersed himself in Chinese studies. He devoted most of his time to compiling dictionaries, translating Chinese classics, and writing original works on Chinese history, geography, and religion. Upon his return to Russia, he lived in the Valaam monastery and in the St. Petersburg Alexander Nevsky Lavra (from 1826), where he wrote books on sinology that were translated into many languages.
Cordier Sinica 2880-2881; Lust 200: "History of Tibet and the Kokonor region from B.C. 2282 to A.D. 1227."
The book is rare. We find copies (under different spellings) at Yale, N.Y. Public, The Field Museum, University of Washington, Oxford, SOAS Library, and the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin. The Erfurt and Bayerische Staatsbibliothek libraries apparently hold single volumes only.
31. Arya Mahābalanāma-Mahāyānasūtra, tibétain (mss. de Touen-Houang) et chinois ... Préface de Marcelle Lalou. Paris: Librarie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1956.
$75
First edition, 8vo, pp. xii, 126; folding table and 4 plates; fine copy in original printed gray wrappers. Issued in the publisher's Buddhica Documents et travaux pour l'étude du bouddhisme ... 1. sér.: Mémoires.
32. The myth of Shangri-la: Tibet, travel writing and the western creation of sacred landscape. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, [1989].
$45
First edition, 8vo, pp. x, 308; 2 maps; fine copy in a fine dust jacket.
33. Asie occidentale - Haut Asie. Paris: Librairie Armand Colin, 1929.
$75
Folio, pp. [4], 394; unopened except for that part pertaining to Tibet; 2 maps printed in color, 56 maps in black & white, 149 illustrations from photographs plus other tables and plans; original printed tan wrappers printed in black; textblock heavy for the binding, but still intact; creases in spine; very good and clean.
Issued as volume VIII in the publisher's Geographie universale series.
Not in Yakushi.
34. [Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna.] H. P. Blavatsky, Tibet and Tulku. Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1966.
$125
First edition, 8vo, pp. xxiii, [1], 476; 12 plates and 16 facsimiles; small crack at the bottom of the upper joint, otherwise a near fine copy in original blue cloth stamped in black, and preserving the pictorial dust jacket which has a few short breaks at the extremities.
Not a biography, as the author makes clear in his Preface, as much of Blavatsky's early life remains in shadow. Instead, this is primarily a survey of her writings.
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-1891), "was a Russian and American mystic and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. She gained an international following as the primary founder of Theosophy as a belief system ... Blavatsky was a controversial figure during her lifetime, championed by supporters as an enlightened sage and derided as a charlatan by critics. Her Theosophical doctrines influenced the spread of Hindu and Buddhist ideas in the West as well as the development of Western esoteric currents like Ariosophy, Anthroposophy, and the New Age Movement. (Wikipedia).
35. Religion and secular culture in Tibet. Leiden, Boston, Koln: Brill, 2002.
$75
8vo, pp. x, 470; fine in original pictorial yellow cloth. Issued as volume 2/2 in Brill's Tibetan Studies Library series, edited by Henk Blezer, Alex McKay, Charles Ramble.
Twenty-six papers from PIATS 2000: Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000.
36. Tibet, past and present. Leiden, Boston, Koln: Brill, 2002.
$100
8vo, pp. xvii, [1], 495, [3]; 16 illustrations; fine in original pictorial yellow cloth. Issued as volume 2/1 in Brill's Tibetan Studies Library series, edited by Henk Blezer, Alex McKay, Charles Ramble.
Twenty-five papers from PIATS 2000: Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000.
37. Studies on the history and literature of Tibet and the Himalaya. Kathmandu: Vajra Publications, 2012.
$45
First edition, 8vo, pp. [6], 209, [1]; map, 1 color plate and 19 illustrations; fine copy in original pictorial wrappers.
1, The Discourse on the Origins of the Teachers of Past, Present and Future Dus gsum ston pa 'byung khungs kyi mdo, by Henk Blezer;
2, Grub chen U rgyan pa and the Mongols of China, by Roberto Vitali;
3, The 17th cent. gTsang Rulers and their Strategies of Legitimation, by David Templeman;
4, "Flow of the river Ganga": the gSan-yig of the Fifth Dalai Bla-ma and its Literary Sources, by Franz-Karl Ehrhard;
5, Reincarnation and the Golden Urn in the 19th Century: The Recognition of the 8th Panchen Lama, by Elliot Sperling;
6, Tibetan Nomadic Trade, the Chinese "xiejia" System and the Sino-Tibetan Border Market in sTong 'khor/ Dan' gaer in 19th/20th Century Amdo, by Bianca Horlemann;
7, Tibetan and Sikkimese Relations: Preliminary Remarks on the Gam pa disputes and the Gam pa-Sikkim agreement of 1867, by Paul Mullard;
8, The careers of Ganden Phodrang officials (1895-1959): patrimonial aspects of public service, by Alice Travers;
9, Tharchin's One War with Mao, by Isrun Engelhardt.
38. Reflections of the mountain. Essays on the history and social meaning of the mountain cult in Tibet and the Himalaya. Wien: Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1996.
$75
11.75 x 8.25 in., pp. xi, [1], 262; text illustrations; pictorial paper wrappers; fine.
Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch-Historische Klasse. Denkschriften, 254. Band. Veröffentlichungen zur Sozialanthropologie Band 2.
39. Tibetan mountain deities, their cults and representations. Wien: Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1998.
$60
4to, pp. 214, [6]; text in English and French, with one paper in Tibetan; text illustrations; blue pictorial paper wrappers; text clean and sound, textblock a little curved, about fine.
Papers presented at a panel of the 7th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Graz 1995.
40. Les etres de l'Himalaya. Un manuscrit thai de la Bibliothèque du CESMEO. [Torino]: Edizioni dell'Orso, [1995].
$50
First edition, small folio, pp. [2], 67, [1], plus 74 plates printed in yellow and black after the original manuscript; fine copy in the dust jacket. Issued as Volume VI in the publisher's Collana di Studi Orientali series, under the editorship of Irma Piovano.
41. Tibetan songs from Dingri. Tibetan text & paraphrastic English translation. [Rikon: Tibet-Institut, 1995].
$30
8vo, pp. 65, [5]; 10 pages of plates from photographs; printed paper wrappers; fine.
Opuscula Tibetana Arbeiten aus dem Tibet-Institut Rikon-Zurich Fasc. 14.
42. Across Thibet … with illustrations from photographs taken by Prince Henry of Orleans, and map of route. Translated by C. B. Pitman.. New York: Cassell Publishing Co., [1892].
$375
First American edition, 8voxiii, [1], 417, [1]; folding color map (with splits at 2 folds, but no loss) in front cover pocket, frontispiece and 105 illustrations throughout, some full-page; original; pictorial gray cloth stamped in gilt, brown and black, t.e.g.; a very good, sound, and clean copy.
"Narrative of the journey with Henri d'Orleans from Jarkent to Chamdo through the Tien Shan and Tibet in the winter of 1889-90" (Yakushi).
Cordier, Indosinica, 2436; Yakushi B-479b.
43. De Paris au Tonkin à travers le Tibet inconnu . Paris: Hachette, 1892.
$275
First edition, large 8vo, pp. [4], 510, [1]; over 500 wood-engraved illustrations throughout, after photographs by Prince Henri d'Orleans; folding map printed in color; recent red maroon cloth, gilt-lettered direct on spine; clean and tight; fine copy in a new binding.
Yakushi B-479: "Narrative of the journey with Henri d'Orléans from Jarkent to Chamdo through the Tim Shan and Tibet in winter of 1889-90."
44. Through the heart of Asia over the Pamir to India ... with 250 illustrations by Albert Pepin. Translated from the French by C. B. Pitman. London: Chapman & Hall, 1889.
$850
First edition in English, 2 volumes, large 8vo, pp. xxii, 281; x, 255, [1], 8 (ads); vignette title pages, folding map printed in color, numerous wood-engraved illustrations throughout, a number of them full-page; a scuff mark at the top of the spine of volume II, and a small dampstain on the upper cover of the same volume, else a very good, sound and clean set in original pictorial blue cloth stamped in gilt and white.
Wikipedia notes that in 1886, Bonvalot set out for Russian Central Asia. He departed from Tashkent in 1886 and traveled up to the border with Afghanistan. During the winter season, the expedition remained in Samarkand and sought a way to cross the Pamir Mountains from north to south and reach China. In 1887 they crossed through Kyrgyz territory in the Alai Mountains. He crossed the Pamirs, Chitral, where he was detained for more than a month, and the Karakoram, until he reached Kashmir. He was rewarded for this expedition by the Société de Géographie in Paris.
Yakushi B477b.
45. [Botany & Mineralolgy.] Mineralogische und botanische Reise nach Butan und Tibet. [Berlin: 1790].
$150
Extract from volume I of the Magazin von merkwürdigen neuen Reisebeschreibungen, being pp. 361-400; 8vo, pp. [42]; later brown calf-backed marbled paper-covered boards; fine.
Saunders was the surgeon on Turner's embassy into Tibet and Bhutan, and he wrote part IV of Turner's An account of an embassy to the court of the Teshoo lama, in Tibet; containing a narrative of a journey through Bootan, and part of Tibet (London, 1800). Prior to that publication, Saunders published this in one of the great German collections of voyages and travel.
"Saunders’ survey, while it summarizes the plant life and minerals he observed, certainly had implications for commerce. Had he found abundant timber, coal, and other easily exploitable natural resources, one could imagine that the East India Company would have been keen to establish more extensive trade in the region. Naturally, spices and fruits - already a source of extensive and lucrative commercial trade between India and Britain - would likewise have caught the attention of his East India Company sponsors.
"Scientifically, his reports of new plant species appealed to botanists in the era immediately succeeding Linnaeus’s catalog of plants (Species plantarum), which had been published in 1754" (see "Healing in the Himalayas: Robert Saunders, Surgeon, and the Embassy to Bhutan and Tibet of 1783," by Lindsey Valancius and Trevor Lipscombe, in Journal of Bhutan Studies, Vol.42, Summer 2020).
46. Into little Thibet. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co. Ltd., 1923.
$65
8vo, pp. 256; frontispiece and 19 plate, some after photographs and some color plates after sketches by the author; full brown cloth; foot of spine stained, some occasional light foxing, slightly cocked, very good.
Boulnois traveled from Srinagar to Leh through Dras and Kargil.
Yakushi B-520.
47. The Pierrots of Illinois Union of the University of Illinois present "Tea time in Tibet" a musical comedy in two acts. [Urbana IL]: Pierrots of Illinois, 1922.
$175
4to, pp. [10], 48; text illustrations; printed paper wrappers printed in blue and green; corners bumped, title page a touch soiled, very good. Includes the score for the play and playbill of all actors and staff. From the lyrics it's difficult to say why Tibet figures in the work outside of a couple of passing references.
UCLA and University of Illinois only in OCLC.
48. Das mandala. Der heilige kreis im tantrischen Buddhismus. Koln: DuMont Buchverlag, [1992].
$40
4to, pp. 149, [3]; text illustrations throughout, many in color; full red cloth; paper toning at edges, else fine in fine pictorial dust jacket.
49. Protecting wisdom. Tibetan book covers from the MacLean Collection. Munich, London, New York: Prestel, [2012].
$125
First edition, oblong folio, pp. 263, [1]; extensively illustrated throughout in color; fine copy in original gray cloth with pictorial pastedown on the upper cover, a.e.g., and in a near fine publisher's slipcase
50. Tshad ma rigs gter gyi grel pa = [Commentary on the treasures of Quantitative Theory and the Wheel of Teaching]. [Edited by Dorje Jebo]. Qinghai: China Tibetology Press, [1991].
$50
Second printing, 8vo, pp. [2], 2, 2, 2, 336, [2]; original gilt-stamped brown cloth; text a little toned else near fine. Text in Tibetan throughout.
Commentary on the Tshad ma rigs gter of Sa-skya Paṇḍita Kun-dgaʼ-rgyal-mtshan; dealing with Buddhist logic.
51. Catalogue of Tibetan manuscripts and xylographs. [Richmond, Surrey]: Curzon Press. Copenhagen: Det Kongelige Bibliotek, [2000].
$500
First edition, 2 volumes, 4to, pp. xvi, [14], 538; vii, [11], 541-1048, [2], text in English with transliterated Tibetan and Sanskrit, and Chinese; color and black and white plates; fine set in a fine dust jackets. Issued as volume VI parts 1 and 2 of the Catalogue of Oriental Manuscripts ... In Danish Collections.
This catalogue covers the collection of some 1800 manuscripts and xylographs held in the Danish Royal Library, one of the largest of its kind in Europe.
52. The Halase-Maratika Caves (Eastern Nepal) A sacred place claimed by both Hindus and Buddhists. Pondicherry: French Institute, [1994].
$30
8vo, pp. iv, [2], 69, [3]; printed paper wrappers; corner bumped, else fine.
The caves are a significant pilgrimage site for both Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal, located in the Khotang District.
53. Big game hunting in the Himalayas and Tibet. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co., n.d., [1925].
$250
First American edition, 8vo, pp. 320; 8 maps (6 folding), 24 plates; original blue cloth lettered in yellow; spine a bit dull and with some wear at the extremities, else very good and sound. Ownership signature of W. H. Turley on front pastedown, and notes by him on other sporting books on the rear pastedown.
Czech, Asia, p. 35. Yakushi B-635: "First chapter gives a sketch of the geography of the range, and later chapters describe the kind of hunting-game. Then the author gives methods of travel, hunting, and etc. The author was a son of S. G. Burrard of Survey of India."
54. The tiger of Tibet. London: Herbert Jenkins Limited, 1924.
$60
First edition, 8vo, pp. 312, [8]; full orange pictorial cloth; spotting to edges, textblock clean with a touch of bumping, very good.
Major Sir Gerald Burrard was primarily an expert on firearms and author firearms references. This is a foray into fiction, being an adventure where a British Lieutenant-Colonel is sent by the Foreign Office on a secret mission to Tibet, to investigate the activities of a mysterious Chinese gang.
55. The tiger of Tibet. London: Herbert Jenkins Limited, [1925].
$100
Second printing, 12mo, pp. 312, [8] Jenkins ads; fine copy in original pictorial orange cloth, dust jacket with small chip at the top of the spine affecting the top of the word 'Tiger'; jacket otherwise very good.
"Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Barraclough is sent by the Foreign Office on a secret mission to Tibet to investigate the activities of a mysterious Chinese gang, which is led by a personage known as the "Tiger of Tibet." The story tells of breathless adventure; of heroic endurance on the part of Geoffrey and Phyllis Merridew, the girl he loves; of how they are trapped in the Himalayas in the bowels of the mountain Kailas; of the horrors and the wonders they find in the temple, of the gallant rescue by the Pathan, Sher Khan, a devoted friend, and of the unexpected identity of the 'Tiger of Tibet'" (jacket blurb).
56. A sketch of the geography and geology of the Himalaya mountains and Tibet. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing, India, 1907-08.
$1,800
First edition, 4 volumes, 4to, separate gathering of preliminary leaves laid into the last volume, and with a corresponding "Note to the Binder " tipped to the verso of the front wrapper; frontispiece chart, 2 gravure plates, 50 other plates and charts (4 folding, many printed in color, including one showing the course of the Brahmaputra River, and a large folding geological map printed in color at the back of the last volume); original printed wrappers rebacked neatly in what surely is non-archival tape but with no adverse effects; a few insignificant waterstains; a good, sound set, or better.
Part I is subtitled The High Peaks of Asia; part II, The Principal Mountain Ranges of Asia; part III, The Rivers of Himalaya and Tibet; and part IV, The Geology of the Himalaya.
Yakushi B-637 noting that Hayden was killed in the Alps in 1923.
57. Tibetan medical thangka of the four medical tantras. [Lhasa]: People's Publishing House of Tibet, [1988].
$375
First edition, 3000 copies printed; oblong folio, pp. 499, [1]; illustrated throughout in color and black & white; original red cloth stamped in gilt on upper cover and spine; contained in a decorative publisher's box tied with ribbons; just about fine throughout.
58. First Russia then Tibet. [London]: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1933.
$60
First edition, 8vo, pp. xiv, 328; 25 plates; original green cloth stamped in gilt on spine; a very good, sound, and clean copy.
Yakushi B656: "This book is made up of two separate travel narratives: one of Russia and the other of Tibet (the trade route to Gyantse from Sikkim at the end of the 1920s)."
59. The red Lama. London et al.: The China Inland Mission, 1927.
$175
12mo, pp. [4], 43, [1], 4 (ads); portrait frontispiece and one plate; pictorial paper wrappers; a touch of spotting, else near fine.
A missionary story by two indefatigable women missionaries who lived for more than a decade in the Gobi desert, about the conversion of a Lama, who has been sheltered by them after he is robbed blind by Chinese merchants.
Ten in OCLC, only Cornell, Yale, Wheaton, and Virginia in the U.S.
60. 皇權與佛法 : 藏傳佛敎法器特展圖錄 = Monarchy and its Buddhist way: Tibetan-Buddhist ritual implements in the National Palace Museum. Taipei: National Palace Museum, 1999.
$75
4to, pp. [6], 224, [2]; text in Chinese with 4-page English summary; text illustrations throughout, including color illustrations of 123 cataloged objects, folding map; publisher's gold cloth; fine in fine dust jacket.
Includes a history of the collection from its beginnings at the Ch'ing court and the cross-influence of Chinese and Tibetan art.
61. Trade through the Himalayas: the early British attempts to open Tibet. Princeton: Princeton University Press, [1951].
$45
First edition, 8vo, pp. x, 186; 2 maps (1 double page), 3 plates; a fine copy in original terracotta cloth, in a very good dust jacket.
62. Trade through the Himalayas: the early British attempts to open Tibet. Princeton: Princeton University Press, [1951].
$75
First edition, 8vo, pp. x, 186; 2 maps (1 double page), 3 plates; a fine copy in original terracotta cloth, in a fine dust jacket.
This copy inscribed: "For Warren Tyrrell with best regards Schuyler Cammann."
"This book provides a long-missing chapter in the history of 18th-century Tibet — the struggle of the British East India Company to establish trade, the progress of the Sino- Nepalese War, and the extension of Manchu imperialism from China" (jacket blurb).
63. Early Tibetan documents on Phur pa from Dunhuang. Wein: Verlag der Osterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2008.
$75
First edition, folio, pp. ix, [1], 228; CD ("images of Dunhuang Manuscripts from the Stein Collection in London") in pocket inside lower wrapper; a fine copy in original yellow printed wrappers. Issued as no. 63 in the publisher's Beiträge zur Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte Asiens series.
An analysis, transcription and translation of early tantric texts.
Osterreichische Akademie Der Wissenschaften Philosophisch-Historische Klasse Denkschriften, 370.
64. Tibetan shadows. Milano: MEDIANE, 2008.
$40
First edition, square 8vo, pp. 271, [1]; foreword by the Dalai Lama in English, text in Italian and English; illustrated throughout, chiefly from color photographs; fine in original pictorial laminate boards.
Also, with sections on Ladakh, Bhutan, Dharamsala, and the Mustang region.
65. A Tibetan principality. The political system of Ss sKya. Ithica: Cornell University Press, [1969].
$40
First edition, 8vo, pp. xx, [2], 425, [1]; 6 plates, maps in text; full orange cloth; corner bumped, else fine in price-clipped and lightly worn dust jacket.
66. The all-pervading melodious sound of thunder: the outer liberation story of Terton Migyur Dorje. [Pharping: Nyingma Palyul Retreat Center, 2008].
$40
8vo, pp. xii, 260; text illustrations; stiff blue pictorial covers; light creasing and bumping to covers, text clean and sound, near fine.
The spiritual biography of Terton Migyur Dorje, who in the 17th century revealed the profound Namcho treasures that are the foundation of the Palyul lineage of the Nyingmapa.
67. Materials for a history of Tibetan literature. Kyoto: Rinsen Book Co., 1981.
$150
Reprinted in reduced format from the New Delhi 1963 edition; 4to, pp. [8], 7-882, [2]; publisher's slip regarding numbering laid in; fine copy in original black cloth stamped in gilt on spine, retaining a fine dust jacket. Text in Tibetan, preliminaries, including a lengthy introduction, are in English.
68. A ninth century scroll of the Vajradhātu Maṇḍala. New Delhi: Mrs. Sharada Rani, 1986.
$75
First edition, 4to, pp. 350; illustrations throughout, tables; introduction in English; notes to illustrations in Chinese, English, Sanskrit, and Tibetan; very good, sound, and clean in original green cloth, gilt-stamped on upper cover and spine. Issued as volume 343 in the publisher's Śata-piṭaka series.
"Lokesh Chandra, who has studied the twenty-four mandalas described in the Sarva Tathagata Tattva Samgraha Tantra, notes that the Vajradhatu was one of the earliest mandalas to appear in Tibet during the Chidar (the Later Diffusion); some of its mandalas appeared in the main temple at Tabo (dated ca. 996-1042). The iconographically similar Diamond World mandalas, commonly seen in Esoteric Japanese Buddhism, also stem from the STTS, which was translated into Japanese by Amoghavajra (705-774)" (asianart[.]com).
69. Chart illustrating the surgical instruments mentioned in the 22nd chapter of the baad rgyud or the second tantra of the Gyushi (Rgyud bzhi) "The four medical tantras", a Tibetan translation of the Amrta-Astangahrdaya-guhyopa desa-tantra, whose Sanskrit original was lost in the 8th century. New Delhi: Lokesh Chandra, ca. 1990.
$40
Broadside, 30 x 22 in.; a collection of medical implements captioned in Tibetan, a touch of splitting at folds, else fine.
70. Lcan-skya Khutukhutu Lalitavajra's Commentary on the Samantabhadracaryapranidhanaraja. Gangtok: Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, 1963.
$50
8vo, pp. [4], xvii, [3], 61, [3]; green printed paper wrappers; text in Tibetan with introduction in English. Mild soiling to wrappers, text clean and sound, very good.
71. Life and works of Jibcundampa I. New Delhi: [Mrs. Sharada Rani], 1982.
$100
Oblong 4to, pp. [4], [264], [2]; text comprised of facsimiles of Tibetan texts reproduced three pages to one; full green cloth, gilt title on cover and spine fine.
Reproduced here are three biographies of Ran-byun (=svayambhu) Ye-ses-rdo-rje, alias Blo-bzan-bstan-pahi-rgyal-mtshan-dpal-bzan-po, the first incarnation of Jibcundampa, and his collected works, including a revision of the entire Kanjur from the Mongolian using an new script called Svayambhujyoti.
Sata-Pitaka series on Indo-Asian literatures volume 294.
72. Sarva-Tathagata-Tattva-Sangraha. Sanskrit text with introduction and illustrations of mandalas. Delhi, Varanasi, Patna, Madras: Motilal Banarsidass, [1987].
$60
First edition, 4to, pp. 97, [1], 214; text illustrations and two folding plates; source text in Sanskrit with introduction and notes in English; full purple cloth, touch of staining to boards, else fine in fine dust jacket.
"The STTS is of signal importance for the historic development of philosophic speculation in India, Nepal, China, Japan, Korea, Tibet and Mongolia. Moreover, the text could be presented as a 'visual dharma', as a mandala, in the form of a large painted scroll, as sculptures, or an intricate monument. Thus, it exerted a mighty influence on the fine arts of several countries... A detailed study of the text, in relation to the manner in which the philosophic dimensions of the tantric vision were expressed in architectonic constellations, holds explanations of problems as yet unsolved."
73. Atlas of the Republic of China volume II. Hsitsang (Tibet), Sinkiang and Mongolia. Yang Ming Shan, Taiwan: The National War College, 1960.
$150
Folio, pp. [2], 8, 20, [38]; 22 color maps, many double-page, index in English and Chinese; full red cloth, map endpapers; corners and edge of first leaf nibbled, upper hinge starting, maps clean, good and sound.
74. Spoken Tibetan texts. Nankang, Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of History and Philosophy, Academica Sinica, 1978-1981.
$225
4 volumes, large 8vo, pp. [4], xlvii, 297, [1]; [4], ii, 301, [1]; [4], 248, [2]; [4], ii, 330, [4]; portrait frontispiece in color; text printed from typescript; very good, sound, and clean in original printed yellow wrappers. Text in English and Tibetan, with abstract in Chinese.
The Tibetan texts, made from tape recordings by Nawang Nornang and Lhadon Karsip, concern various areas of Tibetan culture or little enacted scenes of Tibetan life, thus making as true a record of natural Tibetan speech as possible. The uncommon fourth volume contains 18 different stories: The King and the Three Oranges; The Magic Stick; The Prime Minister and the Astrologer; The Five Children; The Magic Flower; The Three Sisters; A Fickle Bride; A Territorial Dispute; The Unfaithful Wife; The Stupid Son; The Monkeys and the Birds, among others.
75. 邊疆涉外關係 / Bian jiang she wai guan xi [= Border and foreign relations in China]. [Taipei]: Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, 1962.
$30
8vo, pp. [2], 3, [1], 4, 88, [2]; text in Traditional Chinese; printed paper wrappers; one page dog-eared, "贈閱" stamp on upper wrappers, near fine.
Cheng served as chief secretary of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.
76. 西藏風土志/ Xizang feng tu zhi [= Tibetan customs]. [Lhasa]: Tibet People's Printing House, 1982.
$75
First edition, 8 x 5.5 in., pp. [4], 5, [1], 278, [8]; 16 pages of illustrations; printed paper wrappers; ex-library of the People's Music Publishing House with their stamp on wrappers and title page and label on spine; some wear to ends of spine, text otherwise clean and sound, very good.
Chilie Quzha was the Editor-in-Chief of the Tibet People's Publishing house and curator of the Lhasa museum.
77. The man from Tibet. New York: Sun Dial Press, [1939].
$75
First Sun Dail Press edition (originally published by Doubleday Doran); 8vo, pp. xiv, [2], 302; pictorial title page, plan; previous owner's name on front free endpaper; a near fine copy in a very good dust jacket with spine a touch sunned, small chips at extremities.
A "Sun Dial Mystery," and a Crime Club Selection.
78. High Valley. Indianapolis & New York: Bobbs-Merrill, [1950].
$25
First American edition (first published in Australia earlier the same year); 8vo, pp. 313, [1]; illustrated title page; previous ownership signature on front free endpaper, else a very good, sound and clean copy in original gilt-stamped blue cloth, in a very good unclipped dust jacket.
Australian husband and wife team write a novel about an orphaned Tibetan boy.
79. A handbook of 'phags-pa Chinese. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, [2001].
$80
First edition, 8vo, pp. [2], xv, 307, [3]; full green cloth; fine in fine dust jacket.
"'Phags-pa Chinese is the earliest form of the Chinese language to be written in a systematically devised alphabetic script. It is named after its creator, a brilliant thirteenth-century Tibetan scholar-monk who also served as political adviser to Kublai Khan."
80. A Tibetan on Tibet. Being the travels and observations of Mr. Paul Sherap (Dorje Zödba) of Tachienlu; with an introductory chapter on Buddhism and a concluding chapter on the devil dance. London: T. Fisher Unwin, [1926]..
$150
First edition, 8vo, pp. xv, [5], 212; folding map, frontispiece; mission library bookplate and LC catalog slip pasted to front free endpaper, accession numbers neatly obscured on spine, else a very good copy in original maroon cloth, gilt lettering on spine.
Sherap, an English-speaking Tibetan merchant from Tachienlu, was hired by Combe to recount the customs and tales of his country.
Yakushi C-326.
81. A Tibetan on Tibet: being the travels and observations of Mr. Paul Sherap (Dorje Zödba) of Tachienlu, with an introductory chapter on Buddhism and a concluding chapter on the devil dance. Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar, 1975.
$45
Second editiuon (first published in 1926); 8vo, pp. xvi, [2], 212; frontispiece, map endpapers, folding map; fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Issued as series III, no. 4 in the publisher's Bibliotheca Himalayica series.
Sherap, an English speaking Tibetan merchant from Tachienlu, was hired by Combe to recount the customs and tales of his country.
Yakushi C326.
82. Communist China a bibliographic survey. Washington, D.C.: Department of the Army, 1971.
$100
4to, pp. [2], x, 253, [1]; text in double column; 17 folding charts, tables, and maps of military, political, economic, and sociological nature, including 2 large ones in rear cover pocket; original pictorial yellow wrappers, side-stapled. Text block is bulky and the binding consequently strained and wrinkled, but still generally very good, sound and clean. Issued as DA Pamphlet 550-9.
"The unclassified bibliographic survey was prepared at the request of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Military Operations, United States Army. It updates DA PAM 20-67 which was published in February 1966. The materials included in the publication are available in the open holdings of The Army Library, Pentagon. The 800 abstracts included in the publication were selected from several thousand periodical articles, books, studies, and reports, both friendly and unfriendly. The information appearing in the abstracts is supported by appendixes comprised of charts, tables, and 17 maps of military, political, economic, and sociological nature" (analysists' note). "Annotated bibliography of material published between 1966 and 1971 on China and Taiwan, China - includes works on foreign policy, international relations, the communist political party, demographic aspects, social structure, economic structure, the armed forces, the revolution for cultural change, etc.
83. The geographical journal, vol. XLIX no. 2, February 1917. London: The Royal Geographical Society, 1917.
$30
8vo, pp. vii, [1], 82-160; two color folding maps; 6 leaves of illustrations; blue printed paper wrappers; light foxing to edges, wear at top edge of first five leaves, not affecting text, very good.
Papers include "New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines," "The Kansu Marches of Tibet," and "Natural Divisions of England."
84. Travels of a pioneer of commerce in pigtail and petticoats: or, an overland journey from China towards India. London: John Murray, 1871.
$225
First edition, 8vo, pp. xiv, [2], frontispiece, folding map, and 12 wood-engraved illustrations in the text; original blue cloth, gilt-stamped on upper cover and spine; extremities rubbed and worn; a good, sound and clean copy.
Cooper's account contains descriptions of his journey from Hoopeh, to Ichang, Chung Ching, Chen Tu, Eastern Tibet, Bathang, Atenze, etc., and of the tribes of Lan-Tsan-Kiang and his imprisonment at Weisee.
Yakushi C343a
85. Power, politics, and the reinvention of tradition: Tibet in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2006.
$65
8vo, pp. vi, 215, [3]; fine in original pictorial yellow cloth. Issued as volume 10/3 in Brill's Tibetan Studies Library series, edited by Henk Blezer, Alex McKay, Charles Ramble.
Twelve papers from PIATS 2003: Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, 2003. Managing Editor: Charles Ramble. "This volume focuses upon the relationships between the past and the present evoked in Tibetan historiography, ritual literature, and Buddhist esoteric writings. It offers diverse perspectives on a critical period in Tibet's history when Tibetans found themselves caught up in the tides of political turmoil and forced into the center of a much larger Central Eurasian struggle for power and territorial control between the Manchu rules of the Qing empire and the Mongols of the north. This volume highlights the various ways Tibetan historians, biographers, and Buddhist scholars during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries succeeded in the task of reinventing and reinforcing their respective traditions" (publisher's blurb).
86. Tibetan mastiff. Dorking, Surrey: Interpet Publishing, 2001.
$35
First edition, 8vo, pp. 155, [3]; illustrated throughout in color; fine copy in original pictorial laminate boards.
Everything one needs to know, from breeding, to training, to health care, about this rare breed.
87. The fire ox and other years. London: Collins, 1947.
$65
Second edition, small 4to, pp. xviii, [ 2], 393; 3 color plates, numerous black & white plates, maps; original blue cloth, very good with bookplate on front pastedown, dust jacket with light wear and minor discoloration.
Yakushi C-413: "Accounts of expeditions made during the fifteen years, to Chinese Turkestan in 1925, with Roosevelt to Chinese Tibet in 1928, and three journeys to Tibet in 1930, 1935, and 1937. During the journeys Cutting was accompanied by his wife, one of the very few women to visit Lhasa." Other areas visited include Nepal, Lhasa, Assam, the Turkis, etc.
88. In forbidden China. The D'Ollone Mission 1906-1909 Tibet - China - Mongolia. Translated from the French of the second edition by Bernard Miall. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1912.
$200
Second printing in English, 8vo, pp. 318, [2]; photo-reproductive frontispiece portrait, double-page map and 69 illustrations on 33 plates; original red pictorial cloth; spine a little toned, gutter split in a few places but textblock still sound, ads on version of half-title crossed out in pencil with the note "our sheets should be blank - no adv," very good.
Yakushi D-281b: "Exploration in the Chinese frontiers by the author in 1906-09." Includes a chapter on the Dalai Lama and the expedition's audience with him.
89. Buddhism and its place in the mental health of mankind. London: Macmillan and Co., 1927.
$35
First edition in English, 8vo, pp. viii, 254, [2] ads; previous owner's bookplate else a very good, sound and clean copy in original blue cloth stamped in gilt on spine.
Dahlke (1865-1928) was a German physician and one of the founders of Buddhism in Germany. He wrote extensively about Buddhist teaching and living and translated Buddhist literature into German. In 1924 he established “Das Buddhistische Haus” considered to be the first Buddhist temple in Europe.
90. Buddhists and glaciers of western Tibet. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1934.
$225
First edition in English, American issue (British sheets with a new title page); 8vo, pp. xiii, [1], 304; double-page map, 32 plates from photographs; original brown cloth, gilt-stamped spine, dust jacket spine sunned, overall soiling and with a few small breaks at the extremities.
"Narrative of the author's personal experiences of the De Filippi expedition to the Karakoram in 1913-14" (Yakushi).
Yakushi D-11b.
91. Contributions on the religion and history of Tibet. New Delhi: Manjusri Publishing House, 1970.
$40
Reprint edition limited to 1000 copies; 8vo, pp. [10], 210; 13 full-page illustrations; full green cloth, text clean and sound, light toning to paper, else fine in lightly soiled, near fine dust jacket.
Bibliotheca Himalayica Series III, Volume I. The first edition was published in 1881. Sarat Chandra Das spent five months in Tibet, spending much of it at Tashilumpo. He returned with "a number of Tibetan religious and secular books, and it was primarily on the basis of this material that the present translations and essays were written."
92. Journey to Lhasa and central Tibet ... Edited by the Hon. W. W. Rockhill. New edition. London: John Murray, 1904.
$250
8vo, pp. xvi, 368; 2 maps, one a large folding color map with short tear entering from the guard and another short tear at one fold (no loss), 4 folding color plans, frontispiece, 34 illustrations from photographs on 31 plates; original red cloth, gilt-stamped spine; binding slightly dull, ding in the fore-edge of the upper cover; all else good, sound, and clean.
"Das, a Pundit of the Indian Survey, explored the area between North Sikkim and Lhasa during the years 1879 to 1881 and reached Lhasa in 1881. Reports first printed as 'Narrative of a Journey to Lhasa in 1881-82' in 1885, and 'Narrative of a Journey round Lake Yamdo (Palti) and in Lhakha, Yarlung and Sakya in 1882' in 1887" (Yakushi).
Yakushi D55 noting the first edition of 1902 with only 6 plates and almost 100 fewer pages.
93. Encyclopaedia of Tibetan medicine. Being the Tibetan text of Rgyud Bzi and Sanskrit restoration of Amrta Hrdaya Astanga Guhyopadesa Tantra and expository translation in English. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, [1994-2001].
$375
First edition, 7 vols. (all published), pp. (excluding preliminaries) 301; 190; 200; 133; 229; 62; 166; full green cloth, pictorial dust jackets; one volume with foxing to fore-edge, text all clean and sound, light chipping to the dust jacket of a couple volumes, near fine overall.
"Indo-Tibetan medicine enshrined in Rgyud bzi which was originally composed in Sanskrit and still available in Tibetan is a veritable treasure of centuries of accumulated experience with rational fundamentals and scientifically analyzable therapeutic measures meant for the preservation and promotion of positive help... The present effort is to give the Sanskrit equivalents of this text on the basis of Ayurvedic texts like Vagbhata's Astanga-hrdaya... On the basis of this equivalent terminology, the text of Rgyud bzi is rendered into English in a narrative form."
The declared intention for this encyclopedia was to reach 15 volumes, but it appears that only seven have been published. With the passing of Dr. Dash in 2015, it is uncertain if further volumes will be forthcoming.
Satapitaka Series, 361, 366, 370, 381, 388, 390 & 391.
94. Pharmacopoeia of Tibetan medicine. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, [1994].
$45
First edition, 8vo, pp. xxxxiv [sic], 301, [1]; fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Issued as no. 17 in the publisher's Indian Medical Science Series.
"205 popularly used and therapeutically effective recipes from the treasure of Tibetan medicine are compiled and elaborated with reference to their composition, parts of these ingredients, and weights in which these are added, along with the methods of preparation, indications, and dosage" (jacket blurb).
95. The power of nothingness. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1982.
$30
8vo, pp. xv, [3], 134, [2]; publisher's boards backed in blue cloth; fine in fine, price-clipped pictorial dust jacket.
Alexandra David-Neel and her adopted son Lama Yongden are best known for their work bringing a greater understanding of Tibetan cultural and religion to the west. This is one of a few works of fiction the pair produced. It is a murder mystery in which a lama's servant finds his master murdered and his possessions taken.
96. Initiations & initiates in Tibet. New York: University Books, [1959].
$35
First American edition, 8vo, pp. ix, [1], 9-222; 8 pages of photos; original terracotta cloth; front free endpaper excised, else a fine copy in a near fine, unclipped dust jacket.
97. Le vieux Tibet face à la Chine nouvelle. Paris: Libraririe Plon, [1953].
$40
First edition, 8vo (approx.8" x 5½"), pp. [4], 244, [4]; folding map printed in color; 23 illustrations from photographs on rectos and versos of 4 plates; text a little toned, else a very good, sound copy in original pictorial wrappers.
98. My journey to Lhasa. The personal story of the only white woman who succeeded in entering the Forbidden City. London: William Heinemann, 1927.
$325
First edition, 8vo, pp. xviii, [2], 309, [1]; frontispiece portrait, 43 illustrations from photographs on rectos and versos of 15 plates; original pictorial blue cloth stamped in gilt on spine; extremities worn, some fraying along the joints, rear endpaper excised; the text is clean and the binding sound enough; a good copy. Early ownership signature of S. a. C., Montclair, N. J. We believe the binding to be a Heinemann remainer binding, without the gilt stamping on the upper cover.
A famous journey by an intrepid woman traveler. "The author travelled to Lhasa from China in 1917, lived in Lhasa for two months disguised as a beggar in 1923-24, and returned to France in 1925. She became the first European woman entered into Lhasa, and lived on until 1969, dying at the age of 100" (Yakushi).
Yakushi D86b.
99. Voyage d'une Parisienne a Lhassa. Paris: Librairie Plon, [1951].
$40
12mo, pp. [6], xii, 332; map and 28 illustrations from photographs on rectos and versos of 8 plates; later blue calf-backed marbled boards; spine sunned, text toned (plates unaffected); all else very good. Published as a paperback, the wrappers are not here preserved.
"The author travelled to Lhasa from China in 1917, lived in Lhasa for two months disguised as a beggar in 1923-24, and returned to France in 1925. She became the first European woman to enter Lhasa, and lived on until 1969, dying at the age of 100" (Yakushi).
Yakushi D86a noting only a 1946 edition.
100. Land of the eye. A narrative of the labors, adventures, alarums and excursions of the Denis-Roosevelt Asiatic Expedition to Burma, China, India, and the lost kingdom of Nepal. New York: Henry Holt and Company, [1940].
$50
8vo, pp. xii, [2], 415; 54 photographic illustrations on rectos and versos of 16 plates from photos taken by the author; map endpapers; full red cloth, red stained top edge; fine, with dust jacket price-clipped with short tears at lower panel and some shallow chipping.