Section II.—Block Prints. 
47 
1899.] 
Size and shape. 
guard ; thus the whole pothl is kept firmly fixed. The two wooden 
covers are thick rough pieces (8fx4fxl") of a very light kind of 
wood, the outside surfaces of which are not planed. 
In size and shape the block-prints vary greatly. Some are 
narrow oblongs, measuring from 9^ to 14f by 
4 to 4J inches ; but mostly they are broad 
oblongs, the largest measuring 23§ x 13V', the smallest, 6| x 4j". Their 
thickness, also, much varies, depending, of course, partly on the 
number of forms contained in them, partly on the thickness of their 
paper. The thickest is the pothi, its wooden covers alone measuring 
together two inches. Farther details of measurements will be given 
with the following description of the several xylographs. In a few cases 
the corners are slightly rounded off: in one case this is done so much as 
to render the shape of the book eliptical ; see fig. VIII in Woodcut 
No. 12. The edges of the leaves are frayed, as if the sheets had been 
cut with a blunted or notched instrument. Very exceptionally I have 
found the edge of a pair of leaves uncut. In these cases, when fastening 
the book, a folded sheet had been put in wrongly with the fold outside 
instead of inside. On the other hand, in five cases (First Set, Nos. IV 
and V, Fourth Set, Nos. Ill and VII, Seventh Set, No. V) I have found 
all the folds cut through, so that practically the book consists of separate 
leaves, instead of forms. This is also the case in No. VII of the Fifth 
Set, where, however, the leaves appear to have become separated by 
the wear and tear of the folds. 
The xylographs are all printed on paper. The paper appears to in¬ 
clude, at least, three distinct classes. One class 
is a soft paper, thin, and of even texture, much 
like the white or whitish paper of the Weber and some of the Macartney 
Manuscripts, published by me in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of 
Bengal, Vols. LX1I and LXVI, which is believed to be made of the bark 
of the laurel (Daphne). This class of paper is found only in the one book 
which constitutes the Eighth Set. It has a deep yellow colour, which is 
probably a tint artificially imparted. Another class of paper is only found 
in the book and the roll, comprised in the Ninth Set. This is an exceed¬ 
ingly thin, almost transparent, tough paper, of even texture, with a light 
yellowish tint, probably natural. In its present condition it has become 
somewhat brittle, from age. Except in colour, it reminds one of what, 
in the trade, is known as “ parchment overland paper ; ” in fact, at first 
sight I thought it was very fine vellum, though on closer examination 
and washing, it at once revealed itself to be paper. The most common is 
a third class of paper, of a more or less uneven texture and thickness, 
the prevailing colour of which is a more or less dirty yellowish-brown 
Paper. 
