Manuscript copies of printed books

[Jean-Luc Chevillard]

Cher Emmanuel,

inside the Pondicherry EFEO collection of MSS,
the MS numbered EO-0541,
which is an incomplete copy of the கணக்கதிகாரம் [kaṇakkatikāram]
was copied from a book
published in "pirapava ((varuṣam)) paṅkuṉi ((mācam))"
by cuppiramaṇiya aiyar
in his "vittiyāvilācamuttirākṣaracālai"
which seems to correspond to march-april 1868.

I have been able to directly compare the MS and a PDF of the printed book.

I originally thought the book to have been published in 1927-1928,
but after seeing the MS copy this seems unlikely :-)

-- Jean-Luc Chevillard



On 23/03/2012 01:59, Manu Francis wrote:
> Dear list,
>
> I am currently working on a study of the manuscripts of the
> Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai (a classical Tamil devotional text, datable maybe
> to the 7th century) in a joint project of the University of Hamburg
> and EFEO.
> So far we have been able to collect copies of 44 palm-leaf manuscripts.
> Interestingly, two of these manuscripts (and maybe a third one), are
> each a copy of a different a printed edition of the middle of the 19th
> century.
>
> Do you know of other cases of manuscripts (palm-leaf or paper) being
> copies of printed books?
> Is there any bibliographical reference about this practice?
> One could think that the printed book was out of stock or not
> available for sale, or even that a manuscript copy was cheaper than
> buying the printed book.
> I wonder however if other reasons (ritualistic use of the text,
> conservatism towards the old form of books) might explain this
> practice.
>
> Thanks for any information.
>
> With best wishes.
>