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Charles Ambrose Storey was born in Durham in 1888. He was educated at Rossall School (Lancashire) and then at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied Classics and Oriental languages; graduating in 1912. In 1914, he was appointed Professor of Arabic at the Anglo-Mohammedan Oriental College (now the Muslim University) of Aligarh, India. He returned to England in 1919 to become Assistant Librarian to the India Office. Eight years later he was appointed Librarian but, in 1933, he was elected Sir Thomas Adams Professor of Arabic at Cambridge University. He retired in 1947 and lived in Hove until his death in 1968.

Early in his career, he published a text edition of Mofażżal b. Salama's al-Fāḵer, a 9th-century Arabic treatise on the popular proverbs and colloquial expressions of the Arabs. During his time at the India Office library, he published a continuation of the catalogue of Arabic manuscripts in this library (vol. II, pt. 1, "Qurʾānic Literature,"). He then turned his attention to Persian literature and and the first volume of the Persian Literature: A Bio-bibliographical Survey , fasc. 1, vol. 1, devoted to Qurʾanic literature, was published in 1927. This work continued to occupy his life. He intended to publish six volumes: Vol. I, pt 1. Qurʾānic Literature Vol. I, pt. 2. Biography. Additions and corrections. Vol. II, pt. 1. A. Mathematics. B. Weights and Measures. C. Astronomy and Astrology. D. Geography Vol. II, pt. 2. E. Medicine Vol. II, pt. 3. F. Encyclopaedias and Miscellanies; G. Arts and Crafts; H. Science; J. Occult Arts Vol. III, pt. 1. A. Lexicography. B. Grammar. C. Prosody and Poetics Vol. III, pt. 2. D. Rhetoric, Riddles and Chronograms. E. Ornate prose Vol. III, pt. 3. F. Proverbs. G. Tales Vol. IV, Law; Tradition; Religion, Sufism, Baha'ism, Prayers; Hinduism; Translations from Sanskrit, Hindi, and other Indian Languages, Ethics; Philosophy; Logic Vol. V (Poetry of the pre-Mongol period) Vol. VI was to be for Persian poetry from the time of Saʿdi and Rumi onward.

However, within Storey's lifetime, only Volumes I and II, pt 1 were published. The rest of Volume II and those of III and IV have subsequently been published and a new version of Vol. V was created by Francois de Blois under the title: Persian Literature: A Bio-Bibliographical Survey. Begun by the Late C. A. Storey .

On his death, Storey left his estate to the Royal Asiatic Society, including his house and his library. He also left some papers including the unpublished portions of the Survey, as research notes, drafts and boxes of index cards. This material is what makes up these personal papers.

François Clement de Blois is a specialist on Semitic and Iranian languages and literatures and on the history and cultures of the Near East and Central Asia in premodern times,

Born Rodney Phillip Needham Green on 15/5/1923, he changed his name in 1947; the following year he married Maud Claudia (Ruth) Brysz. The couple would collaborate on several works, including an English translation of Robert Hertz's Death and the Right Hand. His fieldwork was with the Penan of Borneo (1951-2) and the Siwang of Malaysia (1953-5). His doctoral thesis on the Penan was accepted in 1953. He was University Lecturer in Social Anthropology, Oxford University, 1956–76; Professor of Social Anthropology, Oxford, 1976–90; Official Fellow, Merton College, Oxford, 1971–75; and Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford, 1976-90.

Colmán McLaughlin has done research into the Ajanta caves and in particular the paintings undertaken by Robert Gill. Other publications include "Stupendous Monuments Indeed of the Superstition of Former Ages”, Eli Franco, Monika Zin (Ed.), From Turfan to Ajanta: Festschrift for Dieter Schlingloff on the Occasion of His
Eightieth Birthday, Volume 1, Lumbini International Research Institute, 2010, Pp. 627-64.

Johannes Rahder was born in Lubuk Begalung, now a district of Padang, Indonesia, where his father was governor of western Sumatra. He studied first in Leiden (1917-24), then in Brussels (La Vallée Poussin) and Paris (Pelliot) from 1924-28. He gained his PhD at the University of Utrecht in 1926 under the supervision of Willem Caland (1859 – 1932), the Dutch Indologist, philologist, numismatist and translator. Rahder studied the Daśabhūmikasūtra, the ‘Scripture of the Ten Stages’, the definitive scriptural account of the ten stages (daśabhūmi) of Buddhism. He completed a translation which was subsequently published.
Rahder also published, in 1929, this Glossary of the Sanskrit, Tibetan, Mongolian and Chinese Versions of the Daśabhūmikasūtra revealing something of the breadth of his research. This copy was sent to the Royal Asiatic Society by the Librarie Orientaliste, Paul Geuthner, in April 1929.

In 1929 he was in Japan as the chargé de mission scientifique at Maison Franco-Japonaise in Tokyo, working on the Hōbōgirin, le dictionnaire encyclopédique du bouddhisme d’après les sources chinoises et japonaises, francophone scholars being keen to study texts on Buddhism from a wide range of sources. Rahder returned to Utrecht in 1929 to become Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Linguistics and in 1931 moved to Leiden to become Professor of Japanese. This post gave him the opportunity to travel in Japan and Korea. In 1937-38 he became Visiting Professor at University of Hawai’i, which eventually led to his decision to leave Leiden, in 1946, to became a full Professor in Hawai’i. However that was short-lived. In 1947 Rahder moved to Yale University where he stayed until his retirement in 1965.

Rahder had a keen interest in Buddhism and linguistics. He not only studied Sanskrit and Pali, but also Chinese, Japanese and other languages so he was better able to access original source material. He made significant contributions to the wider understanding and influence of Buddhism as well as the etymology of several languages.