The Catalogue of the Rig 'dzin Tshe dbang nor bu rNying ma'i rgyud 'bum
Modern library pagination and markings
In this volume, the western numbering is written in blue pencil numbers. The first index leaf (see below) bears a rectangular IOL paper sticker, white with red borders (as in other volumes, with a heart-shaped decoration in each corner), with the red handwriting: "310 pages"; and in blue writing, "MISC. COLL GYUT 18"; and in large Tibetan writing, "rgyud tsha".
Paper composition
Some sheets are thicker than others.
Size of folios
The size of the plain sheets is 577 x 125mm. There is some size variation (eg. 3 is 567 x 123mm), and some sheets are not cut very straight (eg. the left-hand edge of folio116 comes out to the left at the bottom). Many folios are cut in a similar way.
Sheet numberings
As in other volumes, many of the sheets have tiny Tibetan numerals written sideways, some of which are missing or partially cut off, and where they do occur, they do not seem to correspond to the page numbering in words.
Pagination
Page details are given in words written sideways in black ink, to the left of the writing on each recto side.
Page settings
Most sheets, as in other volumes, have 7 lines of black ink writing, with double red vertical lines to the sides of the writing. The lines are ruled with faint (diluted?) reddish ink. Occasionally, the lines get thicker or (eg. 31a), a line is not ruled straight, going above where it should be, so a corrected line beneath is used instead.
Ornaments, openings and punctuation
Double yig mgo are found in the upper left corner of all recto sides, apart from 1-3. gNyis and gsum each have a triple yig mgo, and the verso side of gcig also has a triple yig mgo. The regular double yig mgo usually start on or to the right of the red vertical margin delineators, and is not usually large in comparison with some of the other volumes. There are some slight differences in style, with some larger or more elongated than others.
Handwriting
The writing in this volume seems to be of a fairly consistent style throughout, similar to that found in many other volumes, and varying slightly in size.
State of preservation
The writing in this volume is rarely obscured by tears and rips. Most sheets are in a reasonable state with few holes or tears - there are occasional small holes and tears. 7 has a piece torn off the top right corner and a tear at the bottom edge, not reaching as far as the writing. 14, 31 and 258 each have a small tear at the left-hand edge. 117 has a tear at the top edge of the folio; 144 a small tear at the bottom edge. Small indentations may be found at the top of sheets, eg. 34, 121-128, 145, 201-3, 217. 83 and 203 each have an indentation at a left edge. 200 has a small indentation at the bottom edge. 258 has an indentation at the right edge of the sheet. There are two small holes in the writing area of 54, but they do not obscure any letters. Similarly, 61 and 72 each have a small hole near the bottom, beside but not obscuring any letters, and 66 has a hole in the writing area which does go over letters on both sides, but the words can still be read; so too in the case of a tiny hole on 100 and 208. 98a has a hole slightly obscuring a syllable on the top line but the hole is beneath the writing area on 98b. 200 has a small hole obscuring a syllable on 200a but not on 200b. 131 has a small hole: on 131a the hole goes over a letter although the syllable is still legible; on 131b, the syllable is written around the hole, leaving a gap for it, suggesting that the hole was made before the verso side was written. 229 has a small hole in the writing area but not obscuring any syllables. 257, 258 each have a small hole near the top of the folio. Many sheets are rather discoloured or dirty, with some ink smudging, and some blotches. Some sheets have pieces of paper stuck to them as repairs - eg. 8a (bottom) has a small piece of paper stuck to it, apparently as a repair; so too 14a, 100a, 104a, 197b, 262, and 25 recto, which also has a piece stuck to the bottom of the verso side. 61a has a piece stuck to the top edge. 216 has small piece overlapping the top edge of the folio; 220 has a piece overlapping the bottom edge and 220b also has a small piece on the bottom edge. 23 and 48 each have two pieces overlapping the recto and verso sides, one at the bottom, one at the top. 106 has a large piece right over the bottom left corner, which appears to have been torn off. The last few folios have rather ragged and torn edges. 272 has a strip of paper stuck to the left edge, verso side, reinforcing the sheet, and also 272a has two further pieces of paper stuck to the bottom edge. The final unnumbered folio has very ragged edges and 2 small holes in the sheet.
Cover folios
The blue lacquered front folio is plain blue in colour, with margins ruled in red, making a box measuring 452 x 42mm. The verso is also plain blue, and the index leaves are sewn to the right of the folio, with large leather red cross stitch, visible on both sides of the folio. There are two strips of ordinary paper stuck on the verso side of the folio, vertically down the page, repairing creases/tears. A small piece of paper is partially stuck to the top right of the verso side, a attempted repair of a diagonal tear of about 65mm.
Index leaf 4: 115mm visible x 84mm, plain beige canvas type cloth, badly fraying and thin in places, a horizontal tear at the middle right hand side; two horizontal neatly ruled red lines at the bottom, above which there is writing: [yig mgo x 1]/ /gled. bam tsha [tsha in red, slightly larger] pa 'di la/
Tsha1, sku rgyud he ru ka rol pa'i rgyud/
Tsha2, gsung rgyud rta mchog rol pa'i rgyud/
Tsha3, thugs kyi rgyud snying rje rol pa'i rgyud/
Tsha4, yon tan gyi rgyal po rgyud bdud rtsi rol pa rim par phye ba brgyad pa
rnams bzhugso// //
Decorated first folios: construction
The first folio, gcig, is a laminate of about 13 sheets, 574 x 125 mm.
The recto side is plain azure blue lacquer, but with gold margins ruled and the collection, volume, and folio identifications given at the left border (rgyud tsha gcig), in gold writing. The box made by the ruled lines measures 438mm (top)/ 436mm (bottom) x 70mm to the right, 68mm to the left, with the gold vertical lines not at exact right angles to the horizontal lines. The blue sheet is torn at the edges. Thick crossed stitches attach the folio together, two along the top, five along the bottom, and one to the left and the right of the folio. Some straight red stitches in a horizontal line run along the bottom of the folio, attaching the covering to the top of the verso side.
Decorated first folios: frames [ TITLE PAGE]
The verso side of gcig (1b) is blue lacquer, with elaborate intertwining straight gold lines around the outside of the page, outlining exactly the same interlocking key design as we find in other volumes. The upper sheet has a rectangular window cut out for the text, 450 x 72mm, outlined (around the frame) with a red paint line.
Decorated first folios: window curtain
There is a material cover fitted over the window, with three layers sewn together. The yellow layer is at the top, with gold thread around the outside, and it measures 427 x 57mm visible (the upper part tucks under the blue frame above). A blue layer is the middle layer, with white thread around the outside, measuring 441 x 64mm visible. The third and final layer beneath is orange, with green thread around the outside, measuring 455 x 71mm visible. They are not exact rectangles of material, coming out a little at both sides near the bottom, and the bottom of the orange layer is not an exact straight line, in parts covering and in other parts not quite covering the bottom of the window.
Decorated first folios: window layout
Beneath the cover is a double lined gold rectangle drawn on black lacquer, with 3 lines of gold writing, split across two sides of the page. There are miniatures to the left and right, besides which the areas for writing are bounded by vertical strips with a regular pattern of gold lines, in this case, the wavy line and spiral design (see "General Information on Volumes"). The larger miniature in the centre, which breaks up the page, is bounded to the left and right by a thin double vertical gold line, outlining a rectangle, 81 (across) x 70mm. The lefthand miniature is within a rectangle 50 x 69mm, the righthand miniature's rectangle is 50 x 70mm. The central faces depicted in the left and the central miniatures are is a little unclear, rather faded, dirty with marks across. The legends for the miniatures are written below each, within the border of gold lines outside the window. Each legend is within double ornamenal brackets:
[first, to the left:] {{[yig mgo x 1] //rig 'dzin tshe dbang nor bu la na mo//}} [ second, to the left of centre:] {{//lha lcam man dha ra ba// [yig mgo x 1]//sangs rgyas gnyis pa oyan rje// [then continues to the right, on the other side of the gold vertical strip transversing the text:] mkha'gro ye shes mtsho rgyal//}} [third, to the right:] {{ [yig mgo x 1]//ka ba dpal brtsegs la na mo//}}Size of folios
The second folio, gnyis, measures 535 x 125 mm.
Decorated second folios
The recto side of gnyis is blue lacquer, with 4 lines of gold writing, within a double gold rectangular box, the outer measuring 474mm top/473mm bottom x 76mm left/80mm right. The margins are ruled as usual, with the collection, volume and folio identification to the left. The box is not an exact rectangle, but almost a parallelogram, with the vertical lines coming down slightly to the left. The folio is a laminate of about 6 layers, with thick cross stitches visible on both sides, two to the top and bottom, one to the left and right. The verso side is ordinary paper.
Page settings
As mentioned above, 2a has 4 lines of gold writing. 2b is ordinary paper. 2b - 6a have double red lined rectangular boxes and margins; 2b and 3a each have 4 lines of black writing; 3b - 5b, have 5 lines of slightly smaller writing, and 6a, 6 lines of writing. Some of the lines overshoot the boxes. The boxes measure as follows. 2b: 499mm top/502mm bottom x 82mm; 3a: 483 x 90mm left/86mm right; 3b: 487 x 80mm; 4a: 489 x 78mm; 4b: 490 x 81mm left/84mm right; 5a: 489 x 80mm; 5b: 493mm top/495mm bottom x 80mm left/78mm right; 6a: 489 x 80mm to the left and 76mm to the right. 6b starts the usual style of red margins down each side and 7 lines per side.
Page settings
272a is the final folio; it has a red ruled box, 498 x 75mm, with 6 ruled lines, of which only three are used. It is followed by a blank side 272b, and a single unnumbered sheet with a red box , measuring 485 x 81mm, which has 5 ruled lines and some poorly written hand-writing, which does not appear to be related to the volume. Further sheets or parts of sheets, each with red ruled boxes, are stuck to the back of this unnumbered folio, reinforcing it.
Readers' marks
The final unnumbered sheet has the following words, in slightly messy and very poor hand-writing, entirely inconsistent with the volume, as though they be a student's writing practice!:
da rgyal khengs sems dbang du gyur pas na slob dpon de nas gar dbang phyug nyid phyag rgya rol pa'i skur bcas kyi// snod ldan byang chu su ngang ba sems dpa' dag//Microfilm
On the microfilm, this marks the end of the roll. There is a note that the microfilm was made in March 1967.