[A. G. Maisey]

Yes, no argument Pak Ganja, and of course I realise that you are only passing on what is in front of you.

While it is true that the word "cacah" is the one most frequently encountered in the gifting of land, the word "karya" could have been used; my notes tell me that a "karya" as a unit of measurement equals 4 bau, and a bau equals 7000 square meters, so if "karya" was the word used, it means that the gift of land to Pangeran Sendang was something like 560 hectares, or nearly 1400 acres. Not a bad slab of land.

I agree that the myths, beliefs, legends, babads and all literary sources are of use in assisting an understanding of previous times, however, we strike a problem with the popular myths , because we do not necessarily know exactly when the myth that we hear, or read, took the form that it is in when we encounter it. It may be a story that refers to the 14th century, but the form that we hear it in could well be no older than a few generations, and it may have originated a long time after the actual events that it relates .Everything changes with time, and stories are no exception. Still, even a vastly corrupted story can be of value as a reflection of attitudes and mores.

The new photos of book pages that you show are from "Kerata Keris", for the title page, and the page with the single keris at upper left.

The other page, with the keris laying down, is from "Dapur Curigo", same publisher, Solo, 1928.

Along with "Wesi Aji", it looks like these three little booklets followed one another in publication:- Kerata Keris in 1928, Wesi Aji in 1929, and Dapur Curigo in 1929.

The romanised "Wesi Aji" appeared in 1934..

I do have these three booklets in Jawa script, along with Indonesian translations, I've got Wesi Aji in roman script, and of course I prefer to use that, I'm not sure if I've got Kerata Keris and Dapur Curigo in roman script, or not.Might have, but I've spent enough time looking through files.

I think this has been a very valuable discussion, as it puts the concept of "old book" into context for those people who do not have direct access to these "old" books. I have yet to encounter anything written on tangguh, dapur, philosophical interpretations---etc, etc , etc---in other words, the things that make up "krisologie" at the present time, that goes back before The Silsilah. Virtually all of the popular works that are referred to as "old books" date from the 1920's and 1930's. The manuscript that I referred to in an earlier post is only 19th century---PB IX.
In the context of keris discussion, these sources cannot be considered "old".
Yes, admitted, the authors of these "old books" often quote incredibly ancient sources for what they write. I find it strange that none of these ancient sources seem to have come to light. Still---interesting reading, and all these "old books" do allow us to form an opinion of the mindset and value system of the writers and the people for whom the books were originally written.