Inscribed Copies: Manuscript Models in South, Southeast, and East Asian Epigraphy
Ondřej Škrabal
Jun 2026 · BRILL
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220
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About this ebook
Inscriptions are often regarded as the ultimate textual ‘originals’ – authentic, authoritative, and unique. This volume challenges that longstanding assumption by showing that formal inscriptions were commonly produced with the help of manuscripts and are, in many cases, copies of preexisting models. Bringing together studies from China, India, Laos, and Siam, the book explores the complex processes of drafting, copying, and transferring texts across a wide range of materials and media. The contributions reveal previously little-known manuscript practices, highlight the tension between fidelity and creativity in inscription-making, and uncover the sociocultural, political, and technological forces at play. Moving beyond the traditional stemmatic approach, this book redefines how we understand epigraphic texts and contributes to current discussions on methodology and terminology in epigraphic research as well as to broader theoretical debates in the fields of philology, textual criticism, and manuscript studies.
Inscriptions are often regarded as the ultimate textual ‘originals’ – authentic, authoritative, and unique. This volume challenges that longstanding assumption by showing that formal inscriptions were commonly produced with the help of manuscripts and are, in many cases, copies of preexisting mod...
About the author
Ondřej Škrabal, PhD (Peking University, 2019) is a sinologist and Senior Research Group Leader at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, University of Hamburg. His research draws extensively on epigraphic and manuscript sources to explore the socio-cultural history of ancient China. He is the co-editor of Graffiti Scratched, Scrawled, Sprayed: Towards a Cross-Cultural Understanding (2023) and the Handbook of Epigraphic Cultures (forthcoming).
Ondřej Škrabal, PhD (Peking University, 2019) is a sinologist and Senior Research Group Leader at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, University of Hamburg. His research draws extensively on epigraphic and manuscript sources to explore the socio-cultural history of ancient China. He ...
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