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| Orchid Press Publishing has a wide collection of well illustrated books, appealing to both the layman and the scholar, and written by specialists. Forthcoming releases are available in the libraries below. |
ORCHID BOOKS |
Buddhist Healing in Laos: |
| Buddhist Monasteries of Nepal: A Survey of the Bahas and Bahis of the Kathmandu Valley by John K. Locke, S.J., photography by Hugh R. Downs 2008, 540 pp., 334 duotone plates, 2 folding maps, bibliography, 29 x 21 cm., hardcover. ISBN-10: 974-524-108-3 Price To Be Announced ISBN-13: 978-974-524-108-4 A definitive survey of the rich legacy of some 360 Buddhist architectural structures and remains in and around the Kathmandu Valley, including both the urban centers of Kathmandu, Patan and Baktapur, as well as surrounding villages. The study examines, for each site, its history, extant sacred images, details of torana, and caitya as well as the overall mandala represented in the monastery structure. The author also surveys such ethnographic details of Nepalese monastic life as daily and annual rituals, initiations, governing structure and economics. First photographed and published in the mid 1980s. Lineage deities, economics, history, governing body, initiations, annual festivals, daily rituals, mandala, caitya, torana, sacred images. |
| Ikat from Tanimbar by Marianne van Vuuren 2008, 180 pp., 107 col. and 50 b & w pl., 35 figs and over 250 line drawings, 4 maps, 2 tables, 1 chart, appendix, glossary, bibliography, 23 x 22 cm., softcover ISBN-10: 974-524-093-1 Price To Be Announced ISBN-13: 978-974-524-093-3 The textiles of Indonesia are widely appreciated by textile specialists, both professional and amateur; however, the intricate ikats produced in the Moluccas, at the easternmost end of the archipelago, prove to be an exception, in that little attention has been paid to this genre to date. The present book, the result of eight years' study by the author, herself an expert hand weaver, serves admirably to bridge this gap in our knowledge. The author provides the framework for the study by describing the techniques, materials and dyes used by the Tanimbarese weavers, as well as the social and ritual significance of the resulting cloths. The book concludes with an in-depth description and analysis of the iconography of the ikats of Tanimbar, cataloguing over 250 motifs employed by local weavers. Richly illustrated with new and historic photographs and numerous sketches and line drawings, Ikat from Tanimbar is an important and welcome contribution to the literature on Southeast Asian textiles. |
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INDIVIDUAL TITLES
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| The Development of Paper, Printing and Ink in Asia by Berthold Laufer 2008, 122 pp, 3 b&w plates, bibliography of the author, index, 21.5 x 15 cm., softcover. ISBN-10: 974-524-110-5 Price to be announced. ISBN-13: 978-974-524-110-7 An essay on the development of paper and printing in China, and a history of the development and use of various forms of ink in Asia, reprinted from sources long out of print and now very hard to find. Berthold Laufer (1874-1934) was one of the earliest and most erudite Western scholars of Asian culture. Fluent in many Asian languages, and leader of four major exploratory expeditions to Asia, he was the author of over 200 anthropological studies, books and papers. Includes a summary of Laufer's illustrious scholarly career, and a detailed bibliography of his writings. |
| The Lore of the Chinese Lute: An Essay on the Ideology of the Ch'in by R. H. van Gulik 2008. 291 pp., 2 colour and 37 b&w plates, 8 woodcuts, index, 24.5 x 17.5 cm., hardcover. ISBN-10: 974-524-112-1 Price to be announced. ISBN-13: 978-974-524-112-1 The lute, ch’in or guqin is one of China’s oldest and most revered musical instruments. Records indicate that it has been a favourite of the literary classes for more than 2,500 years; Confucius himself was a great lover of the instrument. Over the centuries, it became representative of the life, taste and pastimes of the Chinese literati. In addition to its contributions to solo and orchestral musical arrangements, a wealth of symbolic meaning accrued to the lute, over time. Not only was knowledge of the instrument reserved for the literati, its study was believed to be conducive to meditation and to facilitate intellectual enlightenment. While a significant body of literature has been written on the lute in Chinese, the present monograph is the first to assemble a broad picture of the instrument and its cultural significance in English. The author, a renowned Sinologue and linguist, studied the playing of the instrument under one of the most famous lute masters of his age. |
| The Peacock's Children: Burma Protests 1885-2000 by Paul Webb 2008, 267 pp., map, notes, bibliography, 21.5 x 15 cm., softcover. ISBN-10: 974-524-069-9 $21.00 ISBN-13: 978-974-524-069-8 This book records the struggle for independence and democracy in Burma from the fall of the monarchy to the present day. Research was carried out in the British Library-Indian and Oriental Collection in London for valuable material concerning the British colonial period and its response to nationalist and student protests. Post-colonial material is complemented by extensive interviews in Burma, Thailand and Australia. The account is at times a harrowing one, underscoring the repeated dashed hopes for freedom, and the confusion and contradictions amongst Burmese themselves as to the right path to be followed to achieve true independence. In the Epilogue, the author brings us forward to 2003. Regrettably, little has changed since then; for Burma democracy seems as far away as ever. |
| Precious Materials in Asian History: Essays on Turquoise, Amber, Ivory, Diamond and Gold by Berthold Laufer 2008, 275 pp., 2 col. & 24 b&w plates, index, 24.5 x 17.5 cm., softcover. ISBN-10: 974-524-109-1 Price to be announced. ISBN-13: 978-974-524-109-1 Essays on the sources, usage, social significance and folklore of some of the most prominent precious materials in the history of China, South Asia and the Himalayas. A rich source of information on the anthropological implications of these materials, and the sometimes subtle links that developed between East and West in the quest for these treasured substances. Berthold Laufer (1874-1934) was one of the earliest and most erudite Western scholars of Asian culture. He was the primary contributor to the great collection of anthropological material now preserved at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, a collection he curated for some 26 years. A world renowned expert on jade in China, his writings on which remain important references to the present, the current collection of essays summarize his writings on precious substances other than jade. |
Early Sino-Tibetan Art |
| The Nine Ways of Bön: Excerpts from gZi-brjid Edited and translated by David Snellgrove 2008, 318 pp, b&w plates, 24.5 x 17.5 cm., softcover. ISBN-10: 974-524-111-3 Price to be announced. ISBN-13: 978-974-524-111-4 To practising bonpos, Bön simply means the true religion of Tibet, while to Tibetan Buddhists, Bön refers to the false teachings and practices that were prevalent before Buddhism finally succeeded in gaining a firm hold on the country. The present study resulted from a period during which the author, a renowned scholar of Asian languages and cultures, was engaged in intense contact with practicing bonpos. It consists of the translation of fundamental texts of Bön, based on a manuscript of some 400 years of age, in which the entire Bön tantric practice is summarized. In many ways remarkably parallel to the early Buddhist teachings, much of the Bön tradition was subsequently incorporated back into Buddhism when that religion was formally adopted into Tibetan culture. This important study, first published in the 1960s and long out of print, will be welcomed by all with interest in the religions of the Himalayas. |
Fragments from the Past |
| The Golden Land by Randolph O'Hara 2008,. viii, 124 pp., 21 x 14 cm., softbound ISBN-13: 978-974-524-101-5 $14.95 In the final years of colonial Burma, young Andrew Wells arrives in Rangoon to assume a post in the Commissioner´s office, assigned to seek solutions for escalating crime and social unrest in the countryside. As he grows fond of his adopted country, its people, and in particular of a comely Burmese, Mya Shwe, in the cipher office, Andrew also begins to penetrate the cultural veil that obscures, for many in the colonial administration, the underlying causes of unrest. The gentle romance between Andrew and Mya Shwe unfolds against a backdrop of upheaval and eventually violence in colony, leading to dramatic changes in both of their lives. O´Hara´s novel has much to teach the reader on the flavour of Burmese culture as well as the emergence of the independent state in the first half of the 20th century. |
| Wanderings of a Naturalist in India, the Western Himalayas and Cashmere by Andrew Leith Adams, MD Second imprint 2008 (first edition 1867). 344 pp., 1 ill., index, 21.5 x 14.5 cm., softbound ISBN-10: 974-524-113-X Price to be announced. ISBN-13: 978-974-524-113-8 A vivid and early account of the birds and animals, both wild and domesticated, insects and plants of the north India and the western Himalaya, as sighted by Adams in his various expeditions through these regions. The author, in addition, has a keen eye for the landscape through which he conducts us, as well as for fascinating anthropological detail about the indigenous human inhabitants. Adams, an army physician, served with British forces in India and Kashmir, as well as in the Middle East and Canada, between 1848 and 1873; he was an avid student of natural history over the course of his postings. Following his retirement, he assumed a professorship of natural history at Trinity College, Dublin. |
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