Description: Souvenir book with bird's eye maple covers and real birch bark paper leaves. Begun by Mary December 25, 1918 and continuing into 1919 with friends adding good wishes, etc.


History: Birch bark manuscripts are documents written on pieces of the inner layer of birch bark, which was commonly used for writing before the advent of mass production of paper. Evidence of birch bark for writing goes back many centuries and in various cultures. The oldest dated birch bark manuscripts are numerous Gandharan Buddhist texts from approximately the 1st century CE, believed to have originated in Afghanistan, likely by the Dharmaguptaka sect. Translations of the texts, mostly in Kharo??hi, have produced the earliest known versions of significant Buddhist scriptures, including a Dhammapada, discourses of Buddha that include the Rhinoceros Sutra, Avadanas and Abhidharma texts. Sanskrit birch bark manuscripts written with Brahmi script have been dated to the first few centuries CE. Several early Sanskrit writers, such as Kalidasa (c. 4th century CE), Sushruta (c. 3rd century CE), and Varahamihira (6th century CE) mention the use of birch bark for manuscripts. The bark of Betula utilis (Himalayan Birch) is still used today in India and Nepal for writing sacred mantras. Russian texts discovered in Veliky Novgorod have been dated to approximately the 9th to 15th century CE. Most of those documents are letters written by various people in the Old Novgorod dialect.

Provenance: Helen & Dr. Roland Kohen, Miami, FL


Dimensions: Weight (Pounds & Ounces) = 0.25 | Height(in) = 1 | Width(in) = 5.75 | Depth(in) = 3

Size of Artwork(in): 5.75 x 3 x 1"


Artist Name: Mary E. Carpenter


Medium: Wood


Circa: 1918

Very good, a few leaves are split.