Fondo JR - Papers of John Romer

Romer donated manuscripts and books to the Society on 1 April 1837 and 18 November 1848. It is possible that the translations arrived at the same time as the latter donation or were sent at a later date. The letter to the Bombay Gazette was found within the thesaurus donated by Romer.

The papers of John Romer consist of:

• An untitled translation beginning: "Translation of the first fifteen verses of Col. 1 of the Behistun inscription, being done into the literal and schismatic Persian rejecting Arabic works". Romer provides a description of his translation in English and a copy of the fifteen verses in Persian. He acknowledges the work that Sir Henry Rawlinson undertook on the inscriptions. Six sheets of paper, 20 sides. The final page bears the label in a different hand, "Persian Language, J. Romer Esq."
• A letter to the Bombay Gazette found within the 1687 Complementum thesauri linguarum Orientalum by Franciszek Meninski, (1623-1698). This Thesaurus was donated to the the Royal Asiatic Society by John Romer. The letter to the Gazette takes issue with a contemporary evaluation of the Dabistan, a seventeenth century work in Persian, which is a unique study of different religious creeds. The letter gives some explanation of the Dabistan and provides some examples. It is dated 20 July 1820, handwritten, 8 sides.

John Romer donated manuscripts and books to the Royal Asiatic Society. Details of those in the collections can be found on the online catalogue: https://ras.koha-ptfs.co.uk/. The 1687 Complementum thesauri linguarum Orientalum, by Franciszek Meninski, still form part of the Collections.