The Royal Danish Library is the national library of Denmark and main centre for the country’s public libraries as well as the university library for Aarhus University, University of Copenhagen and Roskilde University.
At the Royal Danish Library’s catalogue (REX) you can search for physical material and a large amount of e-resources from the library’s databases. The lending collections can be located in REX. On this page, a number of links and PDF’s from the Royal Danish Library is provided.
The Oriental Collection
The Oriental Collection in The Royal Library comprise manuscripts, block prints, and printed books in languages of Asia and North Africa. The collections are acquired for research in language, religion, and culture in its widest sense, including history.
The collection is divided into five main sections divided by area:
China, Japan, Korea
The Far Eastern collections have only a few manuscripts, but many printed books (monographs and journals), including blockprints, microfilms, AV-materials, and a small collection of objects related to the art of the Far Eastern book.
- Catalogue of Chinese manuscripts and rare books (Bent Lerbæk Pedersen), 2014 (link)
- Catalogue of Japanese manuscripts and rare books (Merete Pedersen), 2015 (link)
- Catalogue of Korean manuscripts and rare books (Bent Lerbæk Pedersen), 2015 (link)
- Catalogue of Yao manuscripts (Bent Lerbæk Pedersen), 2016 (link)
- Chinese posters (link)
The picture in the header is taken from Ershiba foijiao zhi xiang, five digitized sheets with handpainted Buddhist figures of Chinese origin which (among others) can be found here.
The Central Asian part of the Oriental Collection covers Tungusic/Mongolian and Sino-Tibetan languages, and consists of manuscripts, printed books (monographs and journals), including blockprints, microfilms and AV-materials, and a small collection of objects related to the art of the Central Asian book.
The printed catalogue of Mongolian manuscripts is available as a searchable (b/w) PDF:
- Heissig, Walther et al.: Catalogue of Mongol books, manuscripts and xylographs [COMDC 3], København: Det Kongelige Bibiotek, 1971 (PDF)
- Catalogue of Tibetan manuscripts and xylographs (Hartmut Buescher and Tarab Tulku), 2000
(Only few titles in the online catalogue) Contact the library for help: kb@kb.dk - Catalogue of Tibetan Mandalas and other images (Anne Burchardi), 2016
- Manchurian manuscripts and block prints (PDF)
The picture in the header is taken from Yeke riti qubilγan tu molon toyin-u eke-yin ači-yi qariγuluγsan tuγuji bölüge, a digitized litograph from Mongolia that can be found here.
Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia
The Southeast Asian collection consists of manuscripts (including palm-leaves), printed books (monographs and journals), microfilms and AV-materials, and a small collection of objects related to the art of the Southeast Asian book.
The collection has materials in Sinhalese, Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Thai, Viet-Muong, Austroasiatic and Mon-Khmer languages.
It includes the following:
- Codices Orientales Bibliothecæ Regiæ Havniensis vol. 1 (published by Westergaard & Mehren, 1846), pp. 63ff. (PDF)
- Catalogue of Cambodian and Burmese Pāli manuscripts [COMDC 2:1], København: Det Kongelige Bibliotek, 1983 (click here for PDF)
- Catalogue des manuscripts en Pāli, laotien et siamois provenant de la Thailande [COMDC 2:2]; København: Det Kongelige Bibliotek 1966 (PDF)
- Catalogue of Indonesian manuscripts, part 1, Batak (P. Voorhoeve, Carl Schuster), 1975 (PDF)
- Catalogue of Indonesian manuscripts, part 2, Batak manuscripts, Javanese, Malay, Lampung manuscripts and Mads Lange’s letters (Th. Pigeaud, F.H. Van Naerssen, P. Voorhoeve), 1977 (PDF)
A small collection of Shan-materials (mostly in Shan language but some in English) on language teaching, grammars, history and politics can be ordered for use at Reading Room West. Collected by the linguist Jørgen Rischel. It is listed in the document Shanarchive (in Danish/English).
A list of some Thai books for lending can be found as PDF here (to be ordered in the online catalogue REX: use shelf numbers for search).
Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
The South Asian collection consists of manuscripts (including palm-leaves), printed books (monographs and journals), microfilms and AV-materials, and a small collection of objects related to the art of the South Asian book.
Catalogue of Sanskrit manuscripts (Hartmur Buescher), 2011
The picture in the header is an example of a Sinhalese amulet drawn on palm leaves. For more examples of such material, please go to the Royal Library’s webpage, here.
Comprises Arabic, Turkish, Persian and Caucasian (mainly Armenian and Georgian) texts.
More information is available on the Royal Library’s collection webpage, here.
The text in the header is digitized from Agā-ye Mīr Sayyed Mohammad Qomī’s Ketāb-e Šar’eyāt az ba-ray-e atfāl-e madāres, a litograph from Tehrān, 1886, which can be found here.
The Digital National Library
Digital editions from the Oriental Collection online – chosen for their beauty, rarity, calligraphy, bindings etc. – are available on different platforms. They are available through these links:
- Manuscipts and early prints (digitized 2000-2009) – the link opens a query in REX
- Oriental Collection: Manuscripts
- Oriental Collection: Early prints
Direct links to different groups of materials
Manuscripts (digitized 2000-2009):
- Urdu manuscripts
- Japanese manuscripts
- Tibetan manuscripts
- Mongolian manuscripts
- Indian manuscripts
- Sinhalese manuscripts
- Oriental visual art
Rare printed books:
- Japanese and Chinese block prints (scroll a little on the sites)
- Mongolian print