A Catalogue of the Mongolian Manuscripts and Xylographs of the Ernst-Collection

The Swiss physical chemist and nobel laureate Prof. Dr. Richard R. Ernst who passed away a few years ago, had acquired a large collection of Tibetan and Mongolian xylographs and manuscripts over the course of several decades. The catalogue presents the Mongolian part of this unique collection, which consists of 275 individual texts. The oldest of the texts described here date from the 17th century, the youngest are from the first half of the 20th century. The collection encompasses the full range of Mongolian literature, from translations of the Tibetan Buddhist canon to ritual instructions, astrological texts, and divinatory manuals, from historical works and narrative literature to multilingual terminological dictionaries, medical treatises and administrative documents. The collection also includes some richly illustrated stories about the Buddhist hells.