Archief SD - Papers of Samuel Davis

It is not recorded in the Donations Register when the journal was presented to the Society. However extracts from this journal were read to the Royal Asiatic Society on 20 February 1830 by the author's son J.F. Davis, and published by him under the title, "Remarks on the Religions and Social Institutions of the Bouteas, or Inhabitants of Bhoutan, from the Unpublished Journal of the Late Samuel Davis, Esq. F.R.S. &c", Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 11 (1830), p. 491-517. This, along with writing in the book, would suggest the donation was in 1830.

"Unpublished Description of Bootan, by Samuel Davis Esq. F.R.S., 1783". An account of his findings in Bhutan when Warren Hastings assigned him as Draftsman and Surveyor on Samuel Turner's Mission to Bhutan and Tibet. Davis was unable to enter Tibet with the others and so spent his time making drawings and notes of Bhutan. The account covers topics such as landscape and cultivation as well as Davis' interactions with the Rajah.
Leather bound handwritten journal, 38cm x24cm, the cover boards are loose from the spine. 119 written pages.

Open. Please contact the archivist using the email address given here. The archive is open on Tuesdays and Fridays 10-5, and Thursdays 2-5. Access is to any researcher without appointment but it will help if an appointment is made via phone or email. Please bring photo ID.

Within our Library Collections we have a 1813 edition of "Bija ganita or, The algebra of the Hindus" by Bhāskarācārya, Edward Strachey and Samuel Davis. We also have a copy of "Views of Medieval Bhutan: The Diary and Drawings of Samuel Davis 1783" by Michael Aris, London, 1982. This used extracts from John Francis Davis' 1830 article in creating the book, but he did not have access to the complete journal. The article can also be seen within our Transactions.