Palm Leaf Books

When I lived in St. Augustine, FL, I regularly attended the monthly antique dealer meetings, partly because I enjoyed the people and the food and partly because I enjoyed the Show and Tell portion of the meeting. Each dealer was encouraged to bring something from his/her antique shop that would be of interest to the other dealers, and we would try to guess what it was. This was my first encounter of a Palm Leaf Book, brought by another book dealer.

A bit later I wanted to learn more about the books and asked members of the Bibliophilegroup.com mailing list to tell me more about them only to find that most of them didn’t know much about them either but they suggested that I search the web – so most of what I’m telling you today about the books today can be found by doing a Google search. The following is a summary of what I learned – there are also a number of photos available on line.http://www.arcavigraha.com/lontar.htm and http://www.swu.ac.th/hu/lib-sci/ifla99/books.html

In brief: palm leaf books are manuscripts printed on palm leaves and have been a part of the culture in India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Indonesia. The leaves, after being flattened and polished smooth with sand (or boiled in water or milk to make them strong depending on the type of tree used), are strung on cords, bound in boards and often ornamented with gold or ivory. The size varies with leaf strips ranging from approximately 16-36 inches long and 1 ½ – 3 inches in width. The leaves are inscribed with a stylus and then filled with ink made from charcoal and oil so the words are visible.

There are a few variations as to the exact leaf used (including lai-lan tree leaf, lontar palm leaves, talipot palm, palmyra tree) and some variance as to the source of the ink but the look of the items were as similar as our books are similar. Even after paper began to be used, the format remained the same! The manuscripts can last for 600 years and have been made since Roman times. Thousands of the books are now in monasteries and museums.

Of course, some of the books are illustrated, some are for children, some are religious in content, some recorded the law, and some were literature. Isn’t it amazing that the desire to record our thoughts and messages has been consistent through the ages? Our connections to other cultures can be read on cave walls and palm leaves. There are currently 2 listed F/S on abebooks.com – $700 and $125.

I’ll bet that there were good writers and illustrators then as well as those who weren’t so talented! I wonder if it was all that hard to get published? Were there some poor ‘wanna be’ writers walking around Bali trying to find someone to sell him some boiled talipot palm to record his story? Did the preparers of the special leaves control the market? I would have thought that the religious groups would have done the most of the work but I don’t really know. We only know about what has survived over the ages and that isn’t necessarily all that was popular at the time!

You may also be interested to know that craft (or art) people have web sites with directions for making palm leaf type books:http://members.aol.com/leefamily6874503/palmbook.html

Sources: CoOL (Conservation on Line), Arca Vigraha.com and Kathy Stice at Preservation Fact Sheet, Washington.edu. and miscellaneous others.

Respectfully submitted by

Madlyn Blom

http://www.CenterAisleBooks.com Madlyn@CenterAisleBooks.Com

Note: Two photo examples shown are from: http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/Paper-exhibit/palmleaf.html (Cornell University) http://faculty.luther.edu/~martinka/art43/daily/2nd/day11.html (Luther College, Iowa)

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Early Dressage Literature to 1800

Classical dressage is a rather arcane equestrian pursuit. But it has a wonderful literary history. The first book to seriously analyze and teach riding as an art form was Xenophon’s The Art of Horsemanship published in Greece around 360 B.C. It has been republished countless times, and is still in demand today.

It was a revolutionary work in its time, and remained the only book to espouse kindness and gentle training over vicious bits and violent training methods for some 2000 years. Training methods during the Dark and Middle Ages were violent, and most trainers believed horses to be fundamentally vicious.

As warfare changed, lighter weapons such as crossbows and firearms came into use. Lighter armour was used and speed became an important factor. The large coldblooded horses of northern Europe became less useful to the cavalry and the lighter Iberian horse came to the fore. These horses are represented today in the Andalusian, Lusitano, and Lipizzaner breeds and are sometimes known as “baroque” types. These horses were (and still are) full of courage, and are very responsive and athletic. They require a rider with some skill. They are recognizable in old paintings as the horses with the exceedingly long manes and tails.

Modern interest in equitation and advanced training began in Italy during the Renaissance, and it was soon one of the skills expected of a well-rounded gentleman.

Federico Grisone was the author of Gli ordini di cavalcare, (1550 Naples) (Orders of Riding). He set up an equestrian school in 1532 in Italy. While Grisone had studied Xenophon’s Art of Horsemanship, he really didn’t apply all of Xenophon’s principles. He still believed that horses were vicious beasts, and used a variety of rather shocking methods to break the spirits of the horses he trained. Tying a cat to a long pole and placing it under the belly and hind legs to punish the horse was one of his more inventive ideas. He also advocated putting a live hedgehog under the horse’s tail.

His riding style was closer to that of a Medieval knight than that of Xenophon (who advocated a relaxed lower leg and a balanced position). Grisone rode with his feet well forward and legs stiff.

Count Cesar Fiaschi wrote Trattato del imbrigliare, maneggiare, et ferrare cavalli (Bologna 1556). His methods were very similar to Grisone’s. However, he did advocate the use of the voice as an aid to training. He also used music for the first time.

Many pupils came from throughout Europe to study with Italian teachers. The most famous of these was Antoine de Pluvinel. He studied with Pignatelli, then returned to France after his training and opened a school in Paris. Pluvinel’s methods were much more humane than those of earlier trainers. He claimed that the use of the spur or the whip was a confession of failure. Pluvinel introduced a form of equestrian ballet known as “carousel” in which groups of horses and riders performed advanced drills to music. In one instance, over a thousand horses and riders performed together. Carousel is still performed today, though often called a “mounted drill” in North America.

Pluvinel’s notes were not published until after his death. Initially a portion of the notes were published as Le Manège Royal in 1623 along with the illustrations of Crispin de Pas. The notes were later edited and published (including Crispin de Pas’ illustrations) by Menou de Charnizay, as L’Instruction du Roy en l’exercice de monter a cheval, which is the definitive and more complete edition.

England, though often considered a country of horse lovers, actually only produced one early master of classical riding. William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, was a royalist who lived in exile until the restoration of King Charles II. During his exile he opened a riding school in Belgium. He wrote La Méthode et invention nouvelle de dresser les chevaux , which has been translated under two different titles – A New Method to Dress Horses, and A General System of Horsemanship. The illustrations are among the most beautiful to ever grace equestrian literature.

François Robichon de La Guérinière was the most famous and influential early teacher of classical dressage. His methods are still used in the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. He changed classical riding to a more forward and less over-collected style. Gueriniere invented the half-halt, the counter canter, the flying change, and the shoulder-in. His methods and teachings are still in use today at the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna (home of the Lipizzaners).

Guérinière’s book, l’École de Cavalerie (School of Horsemanship) was published in 1729 in Paris. It was really the first book to teach haute école in the way we understand it today, and likely the oldest title (other than Xenophon) that a modern equestrian can read without the occasional wince. It is still much in demand even today, and while it is periodically reprinted, is easy to sell in the secondhand market in any edition.

Xenophon. The Art of Horsemanship. Many editions (Greece, 360 B.C.)

Federico Grisone. Gli ordini di cavalcare (Napoli, 1550)

Cesare Fiaschi. Trattato del imbrigliare, maneggiare, et ferrare cavalli (Bologna, 1556)

Claudio Corte. Il Cavallarizzo (Venetia, 1562)

Pasqual Caracciolo. La gloria del cavallo (Vinegia, 1566)

Salomon de La Broue. Des préceptes de cavalerice françois (Paris, 1602)

Antoine de Pluvinel Le Manège Royal (Paris, 1623)

Antoine de Pluvinel L’Instruction du Roy en l’exercice de monter a cheval (Paris, 1625)

William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle. La Methode Nouvelle et Invention Extraordinare de 

François Robichon de La Guérinière. Ecole de Cavalerie. (Paris, 1729)

By: Deanna Ramsay deanna@ramsaybooks.com http://www.ramsaybooks.com

dresser les Chevaux. (Antwerp, 1658)

#collecting #reference

IOBA Q & A Column

Q. I’ve got a book, printed in Switzerland in 1944, appears to be perfect bound, but with flimsy cardboard boards, no endpapers (not removed – they were never there). And it has a dustjacket. What do I call this binding? Flexible boards? Is there a more precise term?

Julie Fauble

A. Flexible binding should work fine. Limp binding seems to only apply to suede or soft leather.

Joyce Godsey

Q. What is the name of the plastic binding of interwoven fingers (for lack of a better term.) Not a spiral binding.

Bruce (Bookends Bookstore)

A. I believe you are referring to a comb binding. If the ‘plastic binding of interwoven fingers’ you described were laid flat (don’t try it, because the plastic might be too brittle for that) it would resemble a comb.

Jerry Blaz

Q. Can some savvy list member tell me how to change the shipping default on ABE upward?

Susan Halas

A. Go to Your Books. There is a new special little box at the right side of the screen that says “Adjust Shipping Rates.”

Alyce Cresap

Q. Hope someone can help me. Several days ago I received an order through ABE. The customer had left a card number, but when I processed it the card was declined. I emailed the buyer asking for a new card number or a check, but the customer has not responded. I would like to cancel the sale, so that I am not charged the commission. Does anyone know how to do this?

Donna (The Eloquent Page)

A. Recent message to me from ABE:

” To process a refund for the commission fee charged by ABEbooks, please follow the steps below:

1. Log in to your Bookseller account

2. Click on “Your sales”

3. Click on “abebooks”

4. Click on “Review and process your orders”

5. Select “abebooks” as the program and select “Processed” as the status

6. Click “List orders”

7. Find the order that needs to be refunded

8. Under “Review and process”, click “Request a Refund” (refers to commission fees)

9. Put a check mark in the box beside the item to be refunded

10. In the drop down box, select the reason for the refund i.e., “Incomplete Sale”

11. Type your exact reason in the comment box (this will be sent to the buyer) i.e., Credit card rejected

12. Click “Initiate Return”

The refund for commission fees is now complete.”

John and Carole Ansley

Q.   I don’t usually deal in ex-library books, but have recently come across a few that were just too valuable to pass up. The dust jackets are glued to the pastedown endpapers with dirty dust sleeves covering the jackets. Do you leave the jacket glued to the endpaper and sell the book as is with a dirty dustwrapper, or do you peel the jacket off the endpages, remove the old mylar wrap and just deal with the unsightly glue marks that result from this? If so, do any of you have a good method for removing a glued dust jacket?

David Peterson

A. Try HEAT first. Most library adhesives react well with heat. I use a household iron and put stiff paper on top as a shield. However, others have suggested putting a quilting iron in my toolbox as it has a much smaller ‘head’. If the Rubber Cement has oxidized too much, and won’t soften, there is such a thing as Rubber Cement Thinner.  It’s hard to find – an art store may have it.  If I have to use it I sneak it onto the offending adhesive with a q-tip [remember it will melt anything plastic].

Joyce Godsey

We thank all of our contributors.

Jean S. McKenna, Chairman Education Committee

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