Javanese Literature in Surakarta Manuscripts: Manuscripts of the Radya Pustaka Museum and the Hardjonagaran Library

This book completes a series of three volumes cataloguing the Javanese-language manuscripts housed in four repositories in the Central Javanese city of Surakarta that were preserved in microfilm under the auspices of the Cornell University's Surakarta Manuscript Project. The present volume describes the manuscripts of the Radya Pustaka Museum and the private library of the late Panembahan Hardjonagoro, a body of materials that date from the early eighteenth to the early twentieth century. Detailing the contents of the 1,204 texts inscribed in these 478 manuscripts, Nancy K. Florida's fully-indexed catalogue guides the reader through a wide range of materials.

The manuscripts catalogued include autobiographical writings; gamelan notation; works of calendrical divination; annotated translations of the Qur’an; compendia of colonial laws and regulations; Sufi poetry; royal genealogies; handbooks on horsemanship; histories of legendary heroes; and scripts for wayang performances. Each entry includes information of titles, authors, dates and places of composition, dates and places of inscription, identities of scribes and patrons, and concise descriptions of the contents. Each title is also provided with a subject categorization, along with notes on the physical size and condition of the original manuscript, descriptions of scripts and scribal styles, papers, and watermarks. It is an essential resource for researchers of Javanese history and culture.