Images of Tibet Volume 1

There may be no other country in the world that has given rise to so many fantastic, fascinating, and conflicting images as Tibet. In the 19th and 20th centuries, as the mysterious country on the roof of the world increasingly became the goal of travelers and the object of study, new images arose in various parts of the world.

These two volumes are the first to trace the evolution, characteristics, and influence of premodern and modern images of Tibet in both Orient and Occident. Twenty-five contributions by specialists from Europe, the United States, China, and Japan present and analyze images of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism. Tracing the formation, character, and impact of such images, these studies address a broad range of issues, from the development of Tibetology and Buddhist studies to the history of ideas spanning East and West.