National Library gets priceless slides

JAKARTA (JP): The Lontar Foundation presented yesterday more than 300 slides of images from illuminated manuscripts on Indonesian writing traditions to the National Library.

Foundation chairperson Adila Suwarno Soepeno said the 297-page book Illuminations: The Writing Traditions of Indonesia was published in English.

It took four years to compile the book that was launched six months ago by President Soeharto.

Adila said the slides which cost Rp 100 million (US$42,000) to produce had priceless historical value.

She said the US$250,000 publication project was financed by the Lontar Foundation, Ford Foundation and Rajawali Corporation in cooperation with Garuda Indonesia Airways.

John McGlynn, one of Lontar Foundation's founders and the co- editor of Illuminations, said the Indonesian edition was expected next year.

Asked if it was possible to publish the book in CD-ROM editions, multimedia and virtual reality, McGlynn said he thought such a project would be hampered by lack of funding and technical problems, such as protection from hacking.

McGlynn said that 50 percent of the slides in the book were compiled from the Library, the Sonobudoyo Museum, other collections in Yogyakarta, Surakarta and Bali, while the remainder were obtained from Britain and Leiden, The Netherlands.

Of the 5,000 copies printed, 1,000 are available overseas through the Weatherhill publishing company in New York while the remainder are available locally. (01)