CLIVE FARAHAR Catalogue 60

BURMESE ILLUSTRATED MANUSCRIPT ON DIVINATION
12. ANON. Folding Book (Parabaik) untitled, in neat round characters, in black on white paper, in
two parts,
the first consisting of 62 (of originally 74) attractive and lively scenes, c.1800 mostly 2 to a
side, of men, women and animals, in pen, coloured in red, green, blue, yellow and white,
bearing general predictions according to the date of the lunar month, the year, or the month
itself in which a person is born, followed by a handsome barge, the animals associated with the
days of the week (allowing two for Wednesday), a Buddhist saint, and a treatise on
divination in general. The second part is in another hand, in pencil partly inked over,
explaining the use of diagrams of many different shapes, including several resembling a
pagoda, all marked out in grids with letters, numbers or dominoes, for calculating a horoscope
or designing a talisman, some incorporating cheerful drawings of monkeys. Lacking the last
three leaves (12 pictures, 8 from the year series and 4 from the month series), the back cover
with the two illustrations on its inside has been restitched to the earlier leaves. Together 46
sides 5¼” x 15¼”, black lacquered paste boards, covers worn, some light waterstaining and
some corners defective with occasional loss of text, otherwise in good condition for a muchused
text, Burmese. [12574] £1,650
Commonly such treatises are unillustrated apart from diagrams or with only a few pictures, whether
they are in manuscript or, if printed, with crude woodblocks. The present manuscript is distinguished
by the great variety of its illustrations, many with pictures of couples in various attitudes, gazing
attentively at each other, accompanied by elephants, intertwined snakes, and other animals, including in
one place a three-bodied fish. Several scenes are of dire warnings (do not climb a tree if you were born
on the 11th of the month). The numerical methods used in Burma vary greatly from astrologer to
astrologer, and this is likely to be a highly personal handbook. It could be of special use in suggesting
a ‘zada’ or astrological name, for a person to own and use for guidance during important moments in
their life. We are grateful to Mrs San San May (British Library) and Dr Julian Watkins (SOAS) for
help with this note.
Contents:
Recto:
Birth dates 1-29, counting from the full moon (sides 1-13). Years in sets of 6, the first set being 1076,
1106, 1136, 1166, 1196, 1226 (1714-1864 AD, at intervals of 30 years), the next beginning 1077, and
so on up to originally 1105 (1743 AD) (sides 14-24). Lacking the sets beginning 1095 to 1101, 1104
and 1105. A later hand has added various years to each picture up to 1291 (1929 AD), apparently on
different principles from the 30-year cycle.
Verso:
Months of the year (sides 1-4). Lacking months 1-4. Elaborate picture of a barge, its features
numbered from 1 to 27 (side 5). Text; pictures of the 8 creatures linked with the days of the week; a
Buddhist saint surrounded by the words of a prayer (side 6). General principles of divination (sides 7-
13). Second part, mostly in pencil, explaining horoscope and talisman diagrams sides 14-22).
13. AYSCOUGH (Florence) A Chinese Mirror, Being Reflections of the Reality behind
Appearance, London, [1925] folding maps, illusts, with drawings by Lucille Douglass, 8vo,
original cloth,boards, slightly worn at edges, Presentation Copy, [CF6937] £20
EARLIEST KNOWN FORM OF WRITING
14. BABYLON. A Fine Clay Tablet inscribed with 8 lines in Sumerian Cuneiform, cushion
shaped, not dated, but from the Third Dynasty of Ur, BC 2060-2010 some little surface wear,
2 x 1¾ ins. concerning Figs, [12538] £950
An administrative record of quantities of figs assigned to seven named individuals, for example “5 gur
of figs Lugal-umani”. A gur was about 250 litres, and so huge quantities are involved in this samll
tablet. It is possible that the men named were the producers and this was their total crop for the year,
puchased by the state.