I agree with Deepro about the absence of any good, comprehensive book. But to add to the readings, I would mention some lesser-known sources:

Grierson, George Abraham. 1916. “On the Sarada Alphabet.” The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 677–708. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25189479.
Murthy, R. S. Shivaganesha. 1996. Introduction to Manuscriptology. Delhi: Sharada Publishing House.
Nair, K. Maheswaran. 1998. Manuscriptology. Trivandrum: Swantham Books.
Mukhopadhyaya, Bijayanath. 1985. Administration of Manuscript Libraries with Special Reference to Sanskrit. Calcutta Sanskrit College Research Series. Calcutta: Sanskrit College.
Tripāṭhī, Chandrabhāl. 1975. Catalogue of the Jaina Manuscripts at Strasbourg. Indologia Berolinensis ; Bd. 4. Leiden: E. J. Brill. (Introduction)

Best,

Dominik

On Mon, 8 May 2023 at 17:11, Deepro Chakraborty via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

You are most welcome.

I cannot think of any single book that covers all such issues. You can check some of the volumes of Studies in Manuscript Cultures. Some volumes are particularly dedicated to Indic manuscripts, such as Volume 10: Bidur Bhattarai's Dividing Texts: Conventions of Visual Text-Organisation in Nepalese and North Indian Manuscripts. For the Kashmiri manuscripts, I would recommend Michael Witzel's 1994 article "Kashmiri Manuscripts and Pronunciation".

Deepro

On Mon, May 8, 2023 at 4:47 PM Harry Spier <vasishtha.spier@gmail.com> wrote:
Thank you Deepro,
What you say makes sense, that it is a copy of a Sharada manuscript carrying over the characteristics of the original.
On a broader point, I've seen courses on manuscriptology advertised many places over the years, so I'm wondering if there are any books that have been written on manuscriptology that cover all these practical issues that come up when you look at actual manuscripts.
Harry Spier
Harry Spier

On Mon, May 8, 2023 at 6:21 PM Deepro Chakraborty <deepro@ualberta.ca> wrote:
Dear Harry,

The avagraha in the Devanāgari manuscript seems to follow the trait of Sharada manuscripts in which the avagraha functions as a sandhi mark. So, it has a broader use than just being used in cases of an abhinihita sandhi.

Deepro Chakraborty
(he/him)
PhD candidate
Department of History, Classics, and Religion
University of Alberta

The University of Alberta acknowledges that we are located on ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ (Amiskwacîwâskahikan) Treaty 6 territory, and respects the history, languages, and cultures of the First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and all First Peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our institution.

--
Deepro Chakraborty
(he/him)
PhD candidate
Department of History, Classics, and Religion
University of Alberta

The University of Alberta acknowledges that we are located on ᐊᒥᐢᑿᒌᐚᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ (Amiskwacîwâskahikan) Treaty 6 territory, and respects the history, languages, and cultures of the First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and all First Peoples of Canada, whose presence continues to enrich our institution.

_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology