OLAs (Palm Leaf Books) preserve sacred scripture texts, mostly Buddhist, but sometimes Hindu. Palm leaves served as a writing material on the Indian subcontinent and throughout South-East Asia, with copies dating back to the 5th century BC. With the spread of Indian culture to countries in Southeast Asia, such as Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines, this form of book also began to appear there. The texts were engraved with iron, silver, or gold styluses before applying ink made of vegetable products into the grooves opened by the styluses. The leaves, narrow in width in keeping with the structure of the plant itself, were then sewn together to form a kind of fan. The OLA is a true testimony to the diverse history of writing techniques and media, which in turn make this unusual book a collector's item.