Ceylon, India, Burma, et alibi: 1963. 10.25x9.5" album of approx. 40 leaves with black and white and color photos and clippings neatly mounted on both sides throughout. All nicely captioned and dated in pencil in the margins, and generally very good or better condition. An attractive and well-executed album.

Revealing album from the estate of Jewish author and social worker, Max Kreutzberger (1900-1978) documenting his travels in 1963 with Nyanaponika Thera.  Kreutzberger was born in Germany and spent many years in Jewish Social Work before moving to the U.S. in the 1950s and becoming director of the Leo Baeck Institute.  Thera (1901-1994) was born into a Jewish family in Hanau, Gernamy as Siegmund Feniger, but relocated to Ceylon in 1936 where he was ordained a Theravada Buddhists monk.  He cofounded the Buddhist Publication Society and wrote many books and articles on Theravada Buddhism.  He also mentored a whole generation of Western Buddhist leaders including Bhikkhu Bodhi and Ayy Nanasiri.  

Interestingly, not much is documented about the friendship of these two figures, but this album shows they at least spent some time together, and likely connected over their shared German-Jewish heritage.  Images in the album show the home of the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy, Sri Lanka; Kandy Lake; Polonnaruwa; Anurahadura monastery; Delhi; Raughat; the Taj Mahal; Benares and bathers in the Ganges; Sarnath and an important stupa; Shwedagon Pagoda at Burma; Thailand; Bangkok's Grand Palace; Wat Po Temple; Bangkok's canals; street scenes in Hong Kong; an historical image of the borderline between China and Hong Kong at Fanling in 1963; Nikko; Kyoto; and Nara, Japan.  

Price: $400.00