The project of cataloguing oriental manuscripts in German archives and collections is making good progress, at least in respect of Burmese manuscripts, with volumes now being published regularly. The present seventh volume comprises the current numbers 1201 to 1375, though the actual number of manuscripts is considerably higher, as there are several bundles with more than one work. All manuscripts shown in the volume are held by the Berlin State Library.

As the editor Anne Peters points out in her introduction, the majority of the manuscripts date from the second half of the nineteenth century, while the early decades of the twentieth century are also strongly represented. Nine texts were written in the eighteenth century, and the oldest manuscript dates from 1761 CE. Several bundles are held together by a textile ribbon (sazigyo), of which 24 contain an inscription woven into it. As usual, the majority of the texts fall into the category of Buddhist scriptures, including commentaries, subcommentaries, and other explanatory works such as works on grammar and language, while the rest is made up of treatises on astrology and magic. If one manuscript deserves to be highlighted, it would be no. 1269, a collection of pyatton (judicial decisions) concerning various conflicts among the saṅgha in a monastery near Salin.

The presentation of the items follows the established format. Entries begin with a physical description of each manuscript, followed by author and title of each individual text and extracts from the first lines of the first folio, concluding with a transcription of the colophon. Where existing, the text of the sazigyos is transcribed, too. A random cross-check of the transcriptions showed an overall high degree of accuracy, confirming the standard achieved in the previous volumes. Still, this does not exclude the occasional mistake here and there. For instance, the date for ms. 1240 should read ‘2401 A.B.’ instead of ‘A.D.’ (p. 72); the second line of the poem on p. 201 (ms. 1297) should read lhū: (for lhu:); for the reading of the date of no. 1216 (p. 32), ‘4 nāri 2’ seems preferable to the version ‘tha ndari 2’ suggested by the editor; and finally the poem on p. 231 (no. 1307) contains several strange spellings such as myvak (for mrvak) and kyū (?). However, these are minor quibbles which cannot impair the quality of an otherwise thoroughly edited and well-presented catalogue of manuscripts. In fact, this volume, as much as its predecessors, sets a standard in terms of both accuracy and comprehensiveness, and does great service to Burma studies in general.