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Archival description
GB 891 SC50 · Fonds · 1840 - 1858

A handwritten manuscript of Yādgār-i Cishtī by Noor Ahmad Chishti with an English colophon which states: 'Yādgār-i Chishti by Nur Ahmad Chishti Lahori. Autograph presented by the author in 1858 to Robert Eyles Egerton, then Deputy Commissioner of Lahore. A description of trades and castes in the Punjab.' The manuscript is written in Urdu with annotations. It has a leather binding decorated with flower patterns. However these are much faded and the general condition of the volume is poor.

A single loose leaf is found within the volume. This bears an inscription in Urdu, entitled, in English, 'Inscription on one of the guns in the Castle' and a further sentence identifying the date to 16 February 1754.

Noor Ahmad Chisti 1823-1867
GB 891 SC18 · Fonds · [1820 - 1900]

'Various methods of cheating practiced by Goldsmiths and their language' - a document listing ways in which a goldsmith may try to cheat a customer and the language they use to communicate between them. The document looks like an early draft for an article as it has many corrections.

Untitled
Universities
GB 891 OS26 · Fonds · 1934 - 2001

Throughout its history the Royal Asiatic Society has made links with various universities. Perhaps most notable is that with the School of Oriental Studies (Now School of African and Oriental Studies), University of London, for which the Royal Asiatic Society had a representative on the Governing Body for many years. Material in these papers includes connections between the Royal Asiatic Society and the School for Oriental Studies, the University of Catania, Sicily, the Université Libre de Bruxelles, the University of Hong Kong, and the Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford.

Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland
GB 891 SC19 · Fonds · 1816 - 1827

'Translation of the Emperor of China's Letter to the King of England from the original Chinese'. A translation of the document sent to George III from the Emperor of China after the Amherst Embassy in 1816. The letter is dated 11 September 1816 and was given to the Society by Lord Auckland in 1827. The document complains about the behaviour of the ambassadors sent and orders no further ambassador to come. The emperor has no wish to trade.

Eden George 1784-1849 1st earl of Auckland
GB 891 SC54 · Fonds · 1835

'The personal narrative of the Taleb Sidi Ibrahim be Muhammed el-Messi, of the province of Sus; including some Statistic and Political Notices of the extreme south-west country of Morocco'. The Berber manuscript was commissioned by William Brown Hodgson (1801-1871), US State representative to North African Barbary States, who had it translated into Arabic. From the Arabic translation he made an English translation. All three are bound within the book with an introduction by Hodgson, concerning the commissioning of the manuscript, which he believed was the third manuscript to be written in Berber. The introduction is dated 1 March 1835.

Sidi Ibrahim ben Muhammed el-Messi
GB 891 SC37 · Fonds · 1802 - 1804

A translation into the Braj Bhasha dialect of Hindi of Raja Niti, a version of the Hitopadesha, a series of fables. The translation was undertaken for John Gilchrist by Lallūjī Lāl Kavi and the scribe was Siva Prasanna Diivedi. it is dated to V.S. 1858/ Sāka 1825 which equates to 1802-3. The work was made for John Gilchrist when he was principal of Fort William College, Kolkata.

Pasted inside the front cover is a handwritten explanation of the Hitopadesha taken from 'Colebrooke's Preface to the "Hitopadesa" in the original Sanscrit'. The last front paper bears an English description of the work, the signature of John Romer, dated 1804, the Royal Asiatic Society stamp, and that the work was presented to the Society by John Romer. Also within the volume is a more modern label giving identification details and where it is noted as being a very early edition of the work.

Please note that the boards and some pages are loose from the binding and the book spine is no longer present. The boards are covered in red leather.

Lallūjī Lāl Kavi
GB 891 SC7 · Fonds · [1879 - 1910]

A proof volume of what seems to be a partial version of G.M.H. Playfair's, The Cities and Towns of China . The front cover and spine have been lost and the back cover is loose. The text covers from p.253-417, No to Zimerick, with subsequent Appendices of Synoptical Table of the Administrative Cities of China, Radical Index and Corrigenda. The text is printed on one side - the blank pages being written to supplement the text and with further annotations on the printed pages.
The front endpaper has a Royal Asiatic Society bookplate with the text "Presented to the Library by Lionel Handley Derry, Esq., 2 June 1952, in Memory of Lionel Charles Hopkins, Esq., I.S.O.".
The work is undated but Playfair's first edition of the work was published in 1879 and his second in 1910.

Playfair G. M. H. 1850-1917
GB 891 RAS OC4 · Fonds · 23rd Aug 1988 - 26th Aug 1988

The Programme for the Tenth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies held at the Palais de l'UNESCO, Paris from 23-26 August 1988, along with some abstracts and papers from the Conference. Some of these exist as individual items, others have been stapled together to create books of abstracts.

International Conference of Ethiopian Studies
Syro-Egyptian Society
GB 891 SES · Fonds · 1844 - 1861

The Minutes of the "Syro-Egyptian Society of London. Instituted 1844". These handwritten minutes cover the time period from the first meeting of the Society on 3 December 1844 to their 146th meeting on 12 March 1861. The Society met fortnightly until June 1846, then monthly, with extended summer breaks. The minutes cover the decisions made at the meetings and the Papers read. Yearly Anniversary Meetings were held in April. The minutes are written in a hardbound volume purchased from H. Penny, Stationer & Manufacturer of Improved Patent Account Books.

Syro-Egyptian Society of London
South Kensington Museum
GB 891 OS28 · Fonds · 1911 - 1913

Material concerned with the Indian Collection at the South Kensington Museum. These are:

  • Letter to the Under Secretary of State for India regarding provision of care for the Indian Collection and that it be kept as a unit. Printed, unsigned and undated.
  • Letter from Lord Reay, President, Royal Asiatic Society, to the Secretary of State for India to express, on behalf of the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society, their concern regarding the Indian collection at the South Kensington Museum. The collection originated in 1879 when miscellaneous collections from the old East India House were transferred to the Museum. The request is for funds to adequately care for the collections. Typed, dated 12 May 1911. There is also an earlier draft version of this letter, typed with handwritten annotations and labelled, "Sir M. A. Stein's original draft".
  • Letter from R. Ritchie, India Office, to Lord Reay, President, Royal Asiatic Society, to advise that when the Collections were transferred one of the stipulations was that no charge should henceforth fall on the revenues of India, and therefore responsibility rest with the Victoria and Albert Museum to provide suitable staff and care. Typed, dated 24 June 1911.
  • Newspaper article from The Morning Post entitled "Mr Runciman and an Indian Museum", concerning the care of the Indian Collection. Printed, dated 19 July 1911.
  • "List of contacts of various organisations concerned with the Indian Collections and a list of Members of the Royal Asiatic Society Council. Handwritten, undated.
  • "The Indian Collection at South Kensington: Deputation to the President of the Board of Education" concerning the Indian Collection. Typed report of the deputation received on 12 December 1912.
  • Letter from J.H. Headley to Miss Hughes, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, expressing his opinion on the two leading Indian papers on the Museum. Handwritten, dated 20 January 1913.
Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland