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Tibetan & Himalayan Studies: Books

Print and ebooks at the Bodleian Libraries

The print and ebook collections at the Bodleian Libraries cover the history and culture of Tibet from prehistory to the present day. The fields of language, literature, religion, history and politics are represented.

The open shelf collections are held at the Nizami Ganjavi Library and the Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library.

There is a also a reference collection - encyclopedias, dictionaries, printed catalogues, and microfiches (PL480) - in the reference area accessed via the Charles Wendell David Reading Room at the Weston Library

Ebooks can be found on SOLO.

Most printed books on Tibet in European and Tibetan languages are now catalogued on SOLO. The Library has used the Wylie transliteration system since 2015, as in the Library of Congress ALA-LC system of romanization. (works catalogued prior to 2015 are in the old ALA-LC system for Tibetan).

The Bodleian Library has a significant collection of Tibetan manuscripts, many of which were acquired in the 19th century, through the Schlagintweit brothers. Walter Y. Evans-Wentz bequeathed much of his collection in 1965. In recent years, bequests from two Tibetologists, Michael Aris and Hugh Richardson, have greatly strengthened resources for modern Tibetan and Himalayan studies, in terms of both archival and printed materials. The John E. Stapleton Driver collection came to Bodleian in 2016.

The Tibetan manuscripts digital catalogue is at Karchak

The 1970s Driver-Barratt catalogue (searchable PDF) is here , the transliteration scheme is idiosyncratic.

See more information about Oriental Manuscripts & Rare Books here.

Recent acquisitions

To see a longer list of new titles, visit the Bodleian South Asia page at LibraryThing, and specify the language 'Tibetan' to search