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Correspondence concerning the identification of the portrait, The reception of Lord Amherst by Rup Lal Mallick, by William Henry Florio Hutchisson. The painting, at the time of the correspondence, was owned by Major-General Sir George McKenzie Franks. The material consists of:

• A photograph of the painting mounted on brown card.
• Letter from Major V. Hodson to Sir Patrick Cadell to give his opinion on who might be present in the painting. He recognises Colonel Duncan Macleod and names other possibilities. With the letter is a pencil sketch of some of the figures and his identification of those numbered. He also writes of a possible date and occasion. Typed letter, dated 13 July, 1947.
• Letter from Sir Patrick Cadell to Sir Richard Winstedt to write of the information he has obtained from Major Hodson. The letter records that the photo was sent to Winstedt by a Mr Sheppard. He also adds thoughts from other sources, but admits beyond the information he's provided he cannot help further. He suggests contacting C.E.A.W. Oldham or W. Foster. Handwritten letter, 7 sides, dated 18 July 1947.
• Note from Sir Richard Winstedt to Sir William Foster to ask him if he might be interested in the material and be able to identify the painter. Handwritten on Royal Asiatic Society headed paper, dated 30 August 1947.
• Letter from Sir William Foster to Sir Richard Winstedt in which he suggests that the artist might be William Henry Florio Hutchisson. Typed letter, dated 1 August 1947 (Probably 1 September 1947).
• Letter from Major-General Sir George McKenzie Franks to Major Sheppard in which he writes of new information that he acquired about the picture from a book he had been lent by a Mrs Brabazon with reminiscences of her ancestor, General Sir George Bell. In the book is an account of an event in 1827 in Calcutta which fits with the details of the painting. This dates also fits with the time that Franks' great-grandfather was in India. The description gives clues to other people present and that the event was hosted by Rup Lal Mallick. With the letter is a typed copy of the appropriate section from Bell's memoirs. Typed, 4 sides, dated 16 September 1947.
• Letter from Major-General Sir George McKenzie Franks to Sir Richard Winstedt to update him on the material that has been found describing the events of the painting. He invites Winstedt to view the painting if ever in Ireland. With his letter he sends a list entitled 'Notes on colour of uniforms, etc, with reference to numbers on tracing'. Typed, dated 22 September 1947.

'Unto us a Child is Born' - a manuscript documenting the story of the rise and fall of a supposed miracle or holy child in a village near the Indo-Afghan border. The narrator describes himself as a junior officer serving in an administrative capacity. The story is of interest to him for its potential disruption to the area as people took sides believing or negating the child, who showed his holiness by wanting his father rather than his mother. The incident occurred a little while after Halley's comet had been visible in the night sky which some took to be a portent. The matter died down once the child started preferring its mother.

The story would seem to be related by somebody in the nineteenth century, but the document is from the mid-twentieth century. There are no identifiers as to the author or the narrator, so it is possibly a transcription of an earlier text or a work of fiction.

Documents of Marathi history dating to the eighteenth and nineteenth century presented to the Royal Asiatic Society by Sir Alexander Malet in 1828 and by General John Briggs in 1874. The papers donated by Briggs are predominantly correspondence from the Peshwa Court at the time of Nana Fadnavis and were given by Nana Fadnavis' widow to Briggs in 1825. Those from Malet were collected by his father, Sir Charles Warre Malet, during his political career in India and are predominantly handwritten accounts of Marathi history.

Each of the documents also has a description provided by Simon Digby when Honorary Librarian at the Royal Asiatic Society from 1970. The documents written in Marathi are in modi script.

Twelve notebooks containing the author's notes on India, its religions and inscriptions, mainly extracts from, and comments upon, published authors' works.

A series of accounts or response forms concerning Indian districts. These are handwritten on Indian paper and the accounts are accompanied by letters. One of these has been identified as an 'arzee' or response form from a junior to a senior. The junior identifies himself as Syed Mehdi Hasan and he is responding to a question posed as to whether or not the provinces demarcated in the Ain-i-Akbari by Abul Faz still exist. The response is that there are many changes which Syed Mehdi Hasan then lists. This letter is dated to 1844.

Further material has yet to be identified. One sheet bears the English words 'Benares and Mirzapore' (Varanasi and Mirzapur).

"Diccionario Grandonico Malabar Portvguez" - a dictionary of Malayalam and Sanskrit words written in Malayalam script, explained in Portugese. The title page is printed and dates the book to Verapoly, 1745. A Malayalam and English inscription on the title page states that the book was purchased by Lieut. M.S. Osbourne from J. de Santos, Sheristadar, of Tellicherry Adaulatt, in 1795. The volume is bound with marbled cover. The front board is loose from the spine. With the book is a typed label with an identifying description.

Rubbings of 8 inscriptions made by Archibald Campbell Carlleyle from an ancient temple which he calls Uncha Pahar. He visited this in January 1872 as part of the Archaeological Survey of India. Each of these are labelled, signed by Carlleyle, and dated January 1872:

• Ornament, and inscription at the bottom of the octagonal lower portion of the shaft of the unique round pillar in the pillared vestibule in front of the "Sanctum" of the ancient ruined temple, "Uncha Pahar".
• Inscription in entrance of vestibule, of ancient ruined temple "Uncha Pahar".
• Inscription on a pillar at left side of doorway of "Sanctum" of ancient ruined temple "Uncha Pahar".
• Inscription in two lines on a stone leaning against a wall below the old temple "Uncha Pahar".
• No. 10 Inscription Above first statue on the left hand "Santum" of ancient temple "Uncha Pahar".
• No. 13 Above central statue of "Agni" in "Sanctum" of ancient temple "Uncha Pahar".
• No. 15 Inscription Above central statue on Right hand wall In "Sanctum" of ancient temple "Uncha Pahar".
• On stone bench at the right side in entrance to Vestibule of ancient temple "Uncha Pahar".

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.

A Maldivian Nakaiyterikaṅ (astrology) manuscript. At the commencement of the manuscript it is titled in English, "Nek-ket Were-ingay foy which means our conjuring book". This is followed by an explanation of its use, e.g. in consulting before undertaking a voyage. This copy was made in September 1817 by Nalle Tandy, a "Chitty man" who was the interpreter of the Maldivian language.

A series of discourses on Muslim doctrine and ethics, said at its beginning to be the Kalām of Murtada (Murtaza) Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib which has been translated from a Persian rendering of the original Arabic into a dialect of "Western Hindustani" in a variety of the Khojki Sindh script. This information is obtained from a typed note which has been pasted into the volume and signed by Lionel David Barnett, dated March 1931.