The papers consist of a letter from Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange to Captain Henry Harkness, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to send an extract from a letter that he had received from his son, Thomas Lumisden Strange in Tellicherry, (Thalassery) India. Strange asks that the extract be brought before the Council of the Society, if Harkness deems it of sufficient importance. This letter is dated 9 February, 1837. The extract, dated 4 September 1836, is written in a different hand. It concerns the attempt by Francis Rawdon Chesney to find an overland route to India via the Euphrates. Thomas Lumisden Strange recommends that the route should continue to be explored despite the loss of life on the expedition, and believed that the Persian Sultan 'might be induced to farm to us this division of his dominions'.

'Extracts from letters of Major Rawlinson addressed to Mr Norris'. Extracts from letters dated 25 February, 28 March, 28 April and 15 July 1848, in which he writes firstly of how his indisposition has interrupted his explorations but he is working on the translations from the copies of the inscriptions he has made. In March he writes of making the most of learning about Babylonian knowledge whilst in the desert and of the discoveries he made. In April he had concluded that the roots of Babylonian are biblical and monosyllabic. He has found Babylonian words in the Rabbinical Chaldee. He has also found what he believes to be a description of Nebuchadnezzar's buildings. In July he remarks that his Assyrian progress is satisfactory. He has made good progress on a translation from the Nimrud obelisk and in his understanding of the different grammatical parts of the language.

'Extract from a letter from Major Rawlinson to Mr (Edwin) Norris, dated Baghdad, 7 December 1846' in which he writes of his discovered inscriptions that their language is different to Babylonian though written in Babylonian characters. He thinks Assyrian is a connecting link and that old Egyptian may aid in deciphering. He is waiting for mail to come from Syria and hopes there will be something from Norris on the Babylonian excavations.

'Extract from a letter addressed to Mr(Edwin) Norris by Major Rawlinson, dated Baghdad, 27 November 1846' in which he writes of inscriptions - that he thinks they may be relatively easy to interpret but that the language seems to be a compound of Turkish and Armenian and the names are apparently historical Kings of Armenia. He also writes of the progress of the excavations at Nineveh.

'Extract from a letter addressed by Major Rawlinson to Mr Norris, dated Baghdad, 27 April 1847' in which he writes of Dr Hincks' discovery of the numerals of cuneiform of which he has no doubt that Hincks is right. He continues to write of the information he has been able to interpret from the inscriptions and his deciphering of some of the symbols.