Guide to the Sundanese Manuscripts Collection, 1924-1926

Summary

Collection number:

MS 1673

Extent:

1.2 metres and (8 ms boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Sundanese Manuscripts Collection, National Library of Australia, MS 1673, [box number and item number]'.

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference. Not for loan.

Background

Content Summary:

The collection of Sundanese manuscripts (language spoken in West Java, Indonesia) consists partly of Sundanese folk tales. It contains 130 parts, each of which is made up of lined double leaved sheets measuring 22 × 34 cm.; both sides of the page have been written on. The double leaved sheets in each part are contained in a labelled cover and sewn together.

Immediate Source of Acquisition:

The collection of manuscripts was purchased by the National Library of Australia from Martinus Nijhoff, Publisher and Bookseller, The Hague, Netherlands, in January 1959. This firm had acquired the collection from the estate of the late Mr. R. A. Kern, LL.M., after his death in March, 1958. Mr. Kern was sometime Advisor for Native and Muhammadan Affairs to the Netherlands East India Government at Batavia and afterwards lecturer in the Sundanese language at Leiden University; at times he also lectured on Islam and on the Buginese and Macassar languages. (For Mr. Kern's bio-bibliography see: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, vol. 114, pp. 345-358.) Mr. Kern built up his collection by having someone copy for him the greater part of the Sundanese manuscript collection of the Bataviaasch Genootschap voor Kunsten en Wetenschappen.

This collection is, therefore, and always has been smaller than the original collection of Sundanese MSS of the Bataviaasch Genootschap. However, it is understood that some of the original MSS of the Bataviaasch Genootschap have been lost, so that their transcriptions in this collection may be the only extant copies available. According to Indonesische Handschriften by R. M. Ug. Dr. Poerbatjaraka, Dr. P Voorhoeve and Dr. C. Hooykaas (Bandung, Nix, 1950), p. 177, the lost MSS are BG nos. 68,80,125 and 137. (Hooykaas quotes the titles of BG. no. 125 as "Roepa roepa dongeng", which is also its title in Finding Aid IId, although here BG No. 124 has the same title. The actual volume, however, is entitled: "Tjarita dedemit", while BG no. 124 is called: "Roepa roepa dongeng".)

Arrangement:

In the descriptive list below the following information is given:

The item number is the number of manuscripts as they are arranged in the National Library. The number of the collection as a whole is MS 1673.

The "BG No" is number of the manuscript as listed in the "catalogus" of the Bataviaasch Genootschap.

The item title is the title of each MS as given on its cover. Where the titles inside the cover differ substantially from the one on the outside they have been added in square brackets. The numbers in round brackets refer to the number of pages in each MS.

The "Alternate BG title" is the title of each MS as quoted in Finding Aid IId.

The "Abstract no" is the number of the corresponding abstract in the work referred to in Finding Aid III.

The "Further remarks" include those of Finding Aid IId which have been translated into English. The majority of remarks consist of short explanations of the titles and notes by Dr. Voorhoeve's successor as keeper of Oriental manuscripts in the University of Leiden, Dr. Th. Pigeaud.

Related

Other Finding Aids:

I. A list of transcribed titles in an exercise book. A label on the cover of the exercise book reads: "Tjatetan Boekoe-boekoe noe parantos di salin ti Gedung-gajah kawitan kaping 24 Maart 1924" (i.e. "List of books from Elephant House that have been copied from 24 March 1924 onwards". "Elephant House" stands for the Batavia Museum, where the Bataviaasch Genootschap was housed). The titles in the list are arranged in numerical order. Only pp. 1-11 of the exercise book have been used. On p.1 appears a statement in Sundanese saying that the copying was commenced on 24 March 1924 and finished on 25 March 1926, and also an illegible signature. It is thought that this is the original list compiled during the copying of the MSS for Mr. Kern and that the illegible signature belongs to the copyist.

II. A photocopy of a typescript list of which the history is as follows:

IIa. The Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen possessed a handwritten list of its Sundanese MSS, which was never published.

IIb. This list was copied by R. Memed Sastrahadiprawira, sometime Reader of Sundanese literature at the Kantoor voor de Volkslektuur (later called: Balai Pustaka) at Batavia, who added some notes - "but otherwise it (i.e. Memed's list) differs little from the original list". (P. Voorhoeve, Keeper of Oriental MSS at Leiden University, in a letter to the National Library, 31.12.1960).

IIc. Dr. P. Voorhoeve and Dr. J. C. Anceaux made a handwritten copy of (b) in 1949 and later this was typed.

IId. A photocopy (already referred to as list IId.) of the typescript copy mentioned under (c) was acquired by the National Library from Dr. Voorhoeve in December 1959. References in this list to the "catalogus" refer to the MS numbers of the Bataviaasch Genootschap (see under (a) above), while references to "korte inhoud" or "korte inh" refer to the list of abstracts mentioned under III below.

III. A photocopy of typescript abstracts of selected Sundanese MSS of the Bataviaasch Genootschap. The abstracts are in Dutch and cover 79 pp. plus a title page, according to which the abstracts were made by R. Memed Sastrahadiprawira for Dr. G. W. J. Drewes in 1928. A copy of the abstracts was made by Messrs. P. Voorhoeve and J. C. Anceaux not long after World War II. A photocopy of Voorhoeve and Anceaux's copy was acquired by the National Library from Leiden University through Dr. Voorhoeve early in 1960.

Conditions Governing Access:

Please refer to the collection's catalogue record (http://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn1184307) for the access conditions.

Conditions Governing Use:

Copying and publishing of unpublished manuscript material is subject to copyright restrictions. For such material, written permission to publish must be obtained from the copyright holder(s). Copying of unpublished material for research purposes is permissible 50 years after the death of the creator of the material.

Preferred citation:

Items from this collection should be cited as '[Title or description of manuscript item], Sundanese Manuscripts Collection, National Library of Australia, MS 1673, [box number and item number]'.

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

Contact us