MANUSCRIPTS -- JAVANESE MANUSCRIPT on Daluang. Central Java, dated 1801 CE. 122 lvs. Javanese ms. written in a neat Central Javanese carakan hand, with black ink for the main text and rubrication in red, section breaks are marked with distinctive pepèdan (red trident-like "III" strokes) and ornamental vertical scrolls, with further talismanic and cosmological diagrams incl. stylised ships, the manuscript concludes with a colophon containing a four-word candrasangkala, securely dating the copy to 1801 CE. Dimensions: 25,5x15,5 cm. No binding. (Endpapers partly gone/dam., with some wear and discoloration typical of daluang, minor edge losses, dog-eared, some signs of later annotation, margins stained, text of first/last lvs. in places illegible).
A composite Javanese manuscript on daluang (mulberry bark paper), comprising both a Babad (dynastic-historical chronicle) and a Serat (didactic/mystical text in macapat verse). A finely preserved and securely dated example of late-traditional Javanese manuscript culture, standing at the transition from indigenous daluang to imported European paper. The explicit chronogram makes this manuscript a rare witness to Central Javanese literary and scribal practice at the dawn of the 19th century. - The use of daluang at this relatively late date suggests production outside the kraton (palace) libraries, most likely in a regional aristocratic or religious milieu. - Sold w.a.f., not subject to return.€ 1200
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