A further comment on PAMOR.
There are lot of general interest articles, that, as Shahrial has said, could be of value in assisting with an understanding of present day cultural background, for somebody who has not had much contact with Javanese society and culture. From the point of view of a person who is a part of this culture, there would also be a lot of interest in this magazine.However, I feel that the more deeply any person was immersed in the specific culture of the keris, the less such a person might find to be of interest in PAMOR.
In any case, its a nicely produced magazine.
My comments reflect my personal opinion only, and since my particular field of interest in the keris is fairly tightly focussed, it is only to be expected that a magazine produced for a general readership will not have much in it to interest me.
I haven't heard anything about an English edition of The Big Keris Book, but I suppose it could happen I think the sponsor of the book is Bank Central Asia, so, I guess it will probably come down to whether they can see a commercial advantage in sponsoring an English language edition.
David, you comment that you do not want to buy this book twice. A number of my friends have had difficulty in even buying it once. They have repeatedly sent emails to the nominated sellers of the book, but it seems that none of these nominated sellers wish to engage in dealings with anybody outside Indonesia. The only reason I have a copy is because a friend gave me a copy. Even in Solo its not the easiest thing in the world to get a copy. You can't walk into a bookshop and buy one. You need to contact the local distributor, who seems to be pretty much unapproachable, and who needs to approached by way of a network of friendships.
I am coming to the opinion that this book was really only produced for consumption within Indonesia. I do not think that the people involved in its production really want to see it on the world stage. Which is a pity, because it really is a wonderful production. This is not to say it is without fault, and it has already been subjected to some criticism in Indonesia, but I myself would hesitate to criticise it simply because its magnificence far outweighs any carping criticism that might be able to be levelled at it.
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