BUDDHIST MONKS PRINTING 



The art of printing is. in the West, a comparatively recent discovery, but in China and 

 T?-i?^ o^"^^'' P^rts of the East it has been known for ages. In manv of the monasteries of 

 1 ibet and Siberia the Buddhist monks still print in the manner which has been handed down 

 irom generation to generation. Movable type is not used, but each page is carved upon a 

 solid wood block, and thus, whenever a new book is printed, entirely new blocks have to be 

 made. Several of these blocks can be seen in the picture, and from them the shape of a 

 1 ibetan book can be easily imagined. The printing press is an enormous stone which has 

 to be raised and lowered by hand as each sheet is printed, and the production of a book is 

 consequently a process requiring much time and labor. 



574 



