Portland Public Library

Journeys on the Silk Road, a desert explorer, Buddha's secret library, and the unearthing of the world's oldest printed book, Joyce Morgan and Conrad Walters

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

mapsplatesillustrations

index present

non fiction

Journeys on the Silk Road

bibliography

783147143

Joyce Morgan and Conrad Walters

a desert explorer, Buddha's secret library, and the unearthing of the world's oldest printed book

The Silk Road once linked China with the Mediterranean. It conveyed merchants, pilgrims and ideas; but its cultures and oases were swallowed by shifting sands. Central to the Silk Road's rediscovery was a man named Aurel Stein, a Hungarian-born scholar and archaeologist employed by the British service. When a Chinese monk broke into a hidden cave in 1900 and uncovered scrolls undisturbed for a thousand years, Stein secured the scrolls, the Diamond Sutra of AD 868. This is the story of the scrolls, and their journey to London

The Great Race -- Signs of wonder -- The listening post -- The moon and the mail -- The Angels' Sanctuary -- City of sands -- Tricks and trust -- Key to the cave -- The hidden gem -- The thieves' road -- Affliction in the orchard -- Frozen -- Yesterday, having drunk too much -- Stormy debut -- Treasure hunters -- Hangman's Hill -- Facets of a jewel -- Shifting sands -- Scroll forward