For more than one hundred years the Pali Text Society has been publishing texts of the Buddha's teaching--the Pali canon or Tipitaka--and making them available to scholars, students and others. Pali is the name given to the language of the texts of Theravada Buddhism.
The founder, T.W. Rhys Davids, was one of three British civil servants posted to Sri Lanka who, in the course of familiarizing themselves with the culture, literature and language of the country, became interested in Buddhist teachings. European scholars and Sri Lankan monks lent their support to the establishment in 1881 of an organization that would bring out Roman-script editions of the Pali canon. Thus began the Pali Text Society.
Initially the Society compiled, edited, and published a large corpus of Pali literature, as well as commentarial, other texts and histories. Now English translations of many Pali texts are available, along with ancillary works including dictionaries, concordances, books for students of Pali and a journal. PTS aims to keep almost all its publications in print and to produce at least two new books and a volume of its Journal each year.
PTS publishes its books in cloth-covered hardbound volumes. A few of the more popular titles have also been printed in softcover editions, such as The Rhinoceros Horn, the English translation by K.R. Norman of the Sutta-Nipata, Introduction to Pali, by A.K. Warder, and Poems of Early Buddhist Monks and Poems of Early Buddhist Nuns, both translated by K.R. Norman with Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Pariyatti has been the PTS distributor for the Americas since 2000. We import the books from the UK and, because they are in stock, we are able to ship them immediately to individuals, the book trade, libraries, monasteries and schools. Complete sets of the Tipitaka, either in English translation (43 books) or in Pali (57 books), can be ordered and shipped directly to the purchaser from England.
Next month: The three divisions of the Tipitaka