Palm-leaf manuscripts

Date: 1887

By: Hands, Alfred Watson (Rev), 1849-1927; Fortune, Reo Franklin, 1903-1979

Reference: A-254-056

Description: Shows a monk seated with a palm-leaf-shaped fan in his left hand and holding the pages of a reed book (or palm-leaf manuscript) open on his lap, with his right hand. Hands visited Sri Lanka in 1887 on a voyage aboard S. S. Carthage Other Titles - Palm-leaf manuscript Quantity: 1 watercolour(s). Physical Description: Watercolour, 358 x 176 mm Transfers: Transferred from Reo Fortune papers, (MSS acc. 80-323) in October 1986.

By: Ferguson, William Dubois, 1891-1959

Reference: Curios-028-042

Description: Two palm leaf books, both blank. Possibly replicas made for missionaries See also Curios-007-006, Curios-007-007, Curios-032-015 Inscriptions: Paper label glued to outside of smaller volume, inscribed in ink 'Native book ma[de] of "olies" (palm leaves) Travancore, India. 8. Lenthy [?]. G. M. Wills' Quantity: 2 curio(s). Physical Description: Bamboo? leaves, wooden boards, string or tape binding, 107 x 70 x 38 mm and 182 x 39 x 37 mm Provenance: Donation: Mr William Dubois Ferguson, Wellington, 18 October 1945

By: Bates, Daniel Cross (Rev), 1868-1954

Reference: Curios-007-007

Description: First leaf is written on one side only; second and ninth leaves are blank. Other leaves have script on both sides. Script not identified from: Wemyss, Stanley "The languages of the world, ancient and modern..." (Philadelphia, 1950). Quantity: 1 curio(s). Physical Description: 9 sections of bamboo? leaf, 27 x 212 mm, tied and wound with string through single hole near one end.

By: New Zealand. Government Printer; Webster, Kenneth Athol, 1906-1967

Reference: Curios-Webster

Description: Includes (numbering not continuous as some books & MS (asterisked) have been transferred - single asterisk to the Rare Books Collection; double asterisk to the G collection, April 2008; triple asterisk to Manuscripts, April 2008): *W 1. D1/T Liuio Padovano/ .... In Venetia / 1567 (white cover) *W 2. The Spectator vol 5 London 1747. *W 3. Le Nouveau Testament ... 1672. **W 4. Art of printing. 1879 *W 5. Introductio / in / Historiam Evangelii / [Gerdes]... Groningae 1744 *W 6. D Michaelis Angeli / Monacrati/ ... Romae 1750 *W 7. Metaphysica / ad mentem Anistotelis/ ... Bononiae 1684 *W 8. Caeremoniale / Episcorum / Clementis VIII Primum / Romae. 1651 **W 9. Greek in type - an essay for printers by Herbert W Williams. Gisborne. Te Rau Press (to New Zealand and Pacific book collection) *W 10. One loose leaf - Latin . MISCCACUS CIVIS UTO ***W 11. Arabic script but Persian or Unou language ***W 12. Sanskrit ***W 13. Arabic ***W 14. Fragments of the Qur'an (Koran) [Qu Ran?] with marginal notes made by another person (Arabic) ***W 15. Unidentified manuscript in Arabic script (28 pages) W 16. One lino cut made at Rongorong School (London Missionary Society) W 17. One metal-topped wood block of Charles II W 18. Burmese reed book - some scripture texts from S Vethaiuain W 19. Reed book - Burmese W 20. Two styluses W 21. Pen stand W 22. Paper offerings and paper money W 23. Reed book - English text W 24. Reed (palm leaf) book - unknown text W 25. Reed (palm leaf) book - unknown text W 26. Chinese wood block, black (7 x 5 cm) W 27. Japanese ink post and brush W 28. Inscribed pottery fragment (ostrakon), 600 A.D., size 140 x 100 mm. W 29. Inscribed stone fragment (Curios-Webster-029, catalogued 9 June 2000) W 30. Chinese wood block, red (80 x 60 mm). Stamp, with only part of a sentence showing, so indecipherable W 31. Chinese wood block, black (110 x 40 mm). 1st character 'Sha' is possibly a surname. 2nd character is 'men' which can mean a gate or a door. W 32. Chinese wood block, brown (120 x 80 mm). Printing block of repeating Chinese characters. Once printed, student would trace over the characters for practice W 33. Chinese wood block, black (200 x 190 mm). Printing block for printing boat tickets. Both the left and right sides are the same, so that two tickets can be printed at once **W 34. Four copies of the Peking gazette **W 35. Mandarin New Testament - Union version published by Bible Society of Scotland, Shanghai W 36. Chinese blank note book, blue cloth container. Has the surname Wen on the front of the slipcase. Probably dates to around 1885 W 37. Chinese blank note book, blue cloth container. A MS account notebook with details of 5 months of buying milk. Dated to 1896. On the front of the slipcase is the surname Pan W 38. Chinese picture books in green container. (5 books). No publication date to be found. Collections of traditional Chinese paintings, intended for adults W 39. Chinese storybooks for children in red and white container. (9 books). Date of publication is 1923. Text books for children learning to read W 40. Chinese soapstone ink pad, black (80 x 120 mm) W 41. Chinese ink pad, black (110 x 80 mm) W 42. Two Chinese ink pads, black circular W 43. Japanese brush **W 44. The Bhagavadgita "sacred song" written in Sanskrit **W 45. Madagascar hymn book. Native binding. 1903 **W 46. Handoostanee [Hindustani] fables. Calcutta Book Society, Printed by Serampore Press, 2nd edition, 1821. Paper wrapper. 1821 W 47. Indian hand stamp for prayer - flower stamp W 48. Printing measures, in box 220 x 60 mm. W 49. Hand cut printing block, J Sutton W 50. Metal engraved block W 51. Limestone fragment - ostrakon, Greek (190 x 100 mm) **W 52. My first Chinese study book - Soochow. 1929 **W 53. Unbinding of feet (illustrated). 1894 W 54. Bundle of Chinese paper money **W 55. Mandarin psalms - red cover, published by British and Foreign Bible Society W 56. Two Chinese stamp books Chinese Bureau of Engraving and printing. Stamps (now removed) of different denominations. **W 57. The Pilgrim's Progress (Chinese) **W 58. Elementary ethics, volume 5. Shanghai, Commercial Press, 1906. **W 59. Elementary ethics Volume 1. Shanghai Commercial Press (Illustrated) 1906. **W 60. Set of Chinese science books. **W 61. The first lesson book in Soochow dialect (2 copies) **W 62. Chinese international commentary devotional commentary genesis in 3 volumes. Volume 3. **W 63. St Johns Gospel, Chapters 1-6. Soochow dialect. **W 64. Psalms Shanghai and Foreign Bible Society. **W 65. Hymnbook. 1921. **W 66. New testament in Wong Peill script. W 67. Chinese money - six notes Yuan - currency for the other world. ***W 68. Chinese school writing book. **W 69. Japanese story book - Samurai. **W 70. Storybook - red and white cover. Woman with star. **W 71. Gospel of John. Wong Peill. printed by British and Foreign Bible Society, Shanghai. 1925. **W 72. Syllables used in the New Testament in the Pekin and Shuntefy dialects. Wang Peill script (2nd copy). W 73. Chinese hand made paper money for burning at funerals. **W 74. Chinese book. Title: Seng Chheh e ki - liok 2 volumes. 1887. ***W 75. Chinese specimen of schoolgirl's letter. **W 76. Chinese book. Title unknown. 32 pages. **W 77. Chinese book. Title unknown. 30 pages. **W 78. Chinese book. Title unknown. (Possibly Manchurian) 33 pages **W 79. Chinese book. Title: Chu-Jit Sin-Liong. 1931. **W 80. Lesson book. Soochow dialect. **W 81. National reader for lower primary schools (Chinese, 2 copies) **W 82. Learning Chinese characters paper- book (2 copies) W 83. Chinese wood block, brown (50 x 50 mm. W 84. Chinese wood block plus three stamps (2 black, 1 red). Three sticks for ink stone (lacking). The red stick and larger black stick are of a well-known high-quality brand (Cao Sugong) made in the Anhui province. The smaller black stick, also from Anhui is a cheaper brand (Zhan Kui yuan). W 85. Early inscriptions from papyrus, fragments. (Curios-Webster-085) Quantity: 38 curio(s). Physical Description: 38 small items, various media, various sizes Provenance: Donated to the Government Printer in 1961 by Mr Ken Webster, as his Printing Collection and as the nucleus for a printing museum. Parts of the collection placed on loan with the Alexander Turnbull Library in the early 1960s and displayed at the Library in 1961, 1962 and 1963 (and possibly later).

Date: 1850 - 1920

By: British and Foreign Bible Society. New Zealand; Bates, Daniel Cross (Rev), 1868-1954

Reference: Curios-032-015

Description: All leaves show writing in different unknown scripts, which appear to be related at least to Sinhalese, Kannada, Telugu or Malayalam. Item (b) appears to be in Kannada. Item (d) may be in Sinhalese, and Item (e) is in 2 parallel scripts. See also Curios-028-042, Curios-007-006 and -007, Curios-008-003 Quantity: 6 curio(s). Physical Description: 6 items of leaf or reed: (a) 43 leaves, 48 x 324 mm, joined by red white and blue plaited cord through 2 holes; (b) 40 leaves, 28 x 304 mm, joined by cord through hole nearer one end; (c) 45 leaves, 20 x 522 mm, joined by cord through hole nearer one end; (d) 1 leaf, 56 x 532 mm, with 2 holes for cord; (e) 1 leaf, 54 x 545 mm, with 2 holes for cord; (f) 1 leaf, 37 x 442 mm, with 1 central hole for cord.

By: Hodson, W H, active 1925

Reference: Curios-007-006

Description: Each leaf has script on both sides. Script identified tentatively by Kamesh Mamadipudi, in 1995. See Stanley Wemyss' "The languages of the world, ancient and modern..." (Philadelphia, 1950). Wooden end-cover has chiselled geometric pattern around border. Photograph (copy neg. 1/2-02620-F) shows this curio tied through both holes. Quantity: 1 curio(s). Physical Description: Wooden end piece, and 81 reed pages, 45 x 305 mm, tied in one place with string through one of two holes. Provenance: Donated by W.H. Hodson in December 1925.

By: Edmonds, W J (Rev), active 1935

Reference: Curios-008-003

Description: Each double page has script on both sides. One side appears to be mathematical equations showing simple addition. Script identified in Stanley Wemyss' "The languages of the world, ancient and modern..." (Philadelphia, 1950). Included in photograph of reed manuscripts (Neg. 1/2-02620-F). Dated in 20th century because of "new" look. Possibly a facsimile made for donor. Quantity: 1 curio(s). Physical Description: 12 double leaves (folded together at one end), 30 x 275 mm; bound together with string through single hole towards other end.

Reference: Curios-007-009

Description: Almost all leaves have script on both sides. Script not identified, but a little similar to Malayalam. Another suggestion is that it is a form of eastern Kufic Arabic. Quantity: 1 curio(s). Physical Description: 118 sections of bamboo? leaf, 35 x 480 mm, between polished wooden boards held together with one central cord.