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A long-standing European fascination with Asia, from the Middle East to China and Japan, came more sharply into focus during the early modern period, as voyages of exploration gave rise to commercial enterprises such as the East India companies and their attendant colonial activities. This series is a collaborative venture between the Cambridge Library Collection and the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, founded in 1823. The series reissues works from the Royal Asiatic Society's extensive library of rare books and sponsored publications that shed light on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European responses to the cultures of the Middle East and Asia. The selection covers Asian languages, literature, religions, philosophy, historiography, law, mathematics and science, as studied and translated by Europeans and presented for Western readers.

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103 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Perspectives from the Royal Asiatic Society

Page 5 of 6

The History of India
  • Volume 1
  • Mountstuart Elphinstone
  • Published online:
    05 April 2014
    Print publication:
    28 February 2013
    First published in:
    1841
  • Appointed through family influence to the East India Company, Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779–1859) arrived on the subcontinent in 1796, quickly learning Persian and developing an interest in Indian civilisation. After postings in Benares, Afghanistan and Poona, he became governor in 1819 of the recently acquired territory that became known as the Bombay Presidency, where he remained until his resignation in 1827. On his return to England, he devoted much of his time to writing and was a founder member of the Royal Geographical Society. This two-volume history, based on a range of Indian sources and first published in 1841, is infused with his lifelong understanding of Indian culture, science and philosophy. A scholarly refutation of James Mill's History, it was the most popular work of its kind among the early Victorian public. Volume 1 contains a topographical introduction and covers the history of the Indian subcontinent to the thirteenth century.

Synopsis of Science
  • From the Standpoint of the Nyaya Philosophy
  • Volume 2
  • James R. Ballantyne
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    21 February 2013
    First published in:
    1852
  • James Robert Ballantyne (1813–64) taught oriental languages in India for sixteen years, compiling grammars of Hindi, Sanskrit and Persian, along with translations of Hindu philosophy. In 1859, for the use of Christian missionaries, he prepared a guide to Hinduism, in English and Sanskrit (also reissued in this series). Published in two volumes in 1852, Synopsis of Science was intended to introduce his Indian pupils to Western science by using the framework of Hindu Nyaya philosophy, which was familiar to them and which Ballantyne greatly respected. This second volume proceeds in similar style to the first: through a series of short paragraphs, Ballantyne introduces arithmetic, algebra, calculus, chemistry, botany, zoology, anatomy, physiology, mineralogy and geology. The second part of the volume is a Sanskrit translation. Overall, the work serves as an excellent primary source on the educational aspects of British imperialism.

A Dictionary of the Bengalee Language
  • In Which the Words Are Traced to their Origin, and their Various Meanings Given
  • Volume 1
  • William Carey
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 February 2013
    First published in:
    1825
  • The language of Bangladesh, West Bengal and parts of Tripura and Assam, Bengali is the sixth most spoken language in the world. A member of the Indo-Aryan family, with its origins in Sanskrit, it has over 230 million speakers. Published in 1825, this is the first volume of a revised three-part dictionary of Bengali, compiled by the Baptist missionary William Carey (1761–1834) during his time in India. Its purpose was to assist Carey's European students at Fort William College in Calcutta, and he endeavoured to include every simple word used in the language, along with all the compound terms found in Bengali literature. Containing over 100,000 entries in Bengali script with English translations, and providing etymologies for most words, it remains of great interest to linguists today. Carey's reference works on Marathi and Sanskrit are also reissued in this series.

A Digest of Hindu Law, on Contracts and Successions
  • With a Commentary by Jagannátha Tercapanchánana
  • Volume 3
  • Jagannátha Tercapanchánana
  • Translated by Henry Thomas Colebrooke
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 February 2013
    First published in:
    1801
  • An honorary professor of Sanskrit and Hindu law at Fort William College in Calcutta, and a key figure in the foundation of the Royal Asiatic Society, Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1765–1837) became Britain's foremost orientalist during the early nineteenth century. Taking up the reins of Sanskrit scholarship following the death of Sir William Jones (1746–94), Colebrooke made several substantial contributions to Indic study. Through seminal publications such as a grammar of Sanskrit and an extended article on the Vedas, he provided unprecedented access to one of the world's oldest languages and some of its oldest texts. Published in 1801, this three-volume translation of Brahman law was based on a Sanskrit compilation prepared by a pandit, Jagannatha Tercapanchanana, whose learned commentary is also featured in the work. Volume 3 continues with inheritance law, covering adoption (of sons) and bequeathal rights relating to daughters.

Historical Sketches of the South of India
  • In an Attempt to Trace the History of Mysoor, from the Origin of the Hindoo Government of that State, to the Extinction of the Mohammedan Dynasty in 1799
  • Volume 2
  • Mark Wilks
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1817
  • Classically educated, Mark Wilks (c.1760–1831) joined the Madras army of the East India Company and would go on to serve as political resident at the court of Mysore from 1803 to 1808. He also later served as governor of Saint Helena from 1813 to 1816, during which time he witnessed the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte. Elected to the Manx parliament in 1816, Wilks became its speaker in 1826 and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in the same year. Drawing on state records and his own experiences, he first published this acclaimed three-volume history of the kingdom of Mysore between 1810 and 1817. Volume 2 details the first (1767–9) and second (1779–84) Anglo-Mysore wars, concluding with the death of Hyder Ali (c.1720–82) and the accession of Tipu Sultan (1750–99).

A Dictionary of the Bengalee Language
  • In Which the Words Are Traced to their Origin, and their Various Meanings Given
  • Volume 2, Part 1
  • William Carey
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 February 2013
    First published in:
    1825
  • The language of Bangladesh, West Bengal and parts of Tripura and Assam, Bengali is the sixth most spoken language in the world. A member of the Indo-Aryan family, with its origins in Sanskrit, it has over 230 million speakers. Published in 1825, this is the second volume of a revised three-part dictionary of Bengali, compiled by the Baptist missionary William Carey (1761–1834) during his time in India. Its purpose was to assist Carey's European students at Fort William College in Calcutta, and he endeavoured to include every simple word used in the language, along with all the compound terms found in Bengali literature. Containing over 100,000 entries in Bengali script with English translations, and providing etymologies for most words, it remains of great interest to linguists today. Carey's reference works on Marathi and Sanskrit are also reissued in this series.

A Digest of Hindu Law, on Contracts and Successions
  • With a Commentary by Jagannátha Tercapanchánana
  • Volume 1
  • Jagannátha Tercapanchánana
  • Translated by Henry Thomas Colebrooke
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 February 2013
    First published in:
    1801
  • An honorary professor of Sanskrit and Hindu law at Fort William College in Calcutta, and a key figure in the foundation of the Royal Asiatic Society, Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1765–1837) became Britain's foremost orientalist during the early nineteenth century. Taking up the reins of Sanskrit scholarship following the death of Sir William Jones (1746–94), Colebrooke made several substantial contributions to Indic study. Through seminal publications such as a grammar of Sanskrit and an extended article on the Vedas, he provided unprecedented access to one of the world's oldest languages and some of its oldest texts. Published in 1801, this three-volume translation of Brahman law was based on a Sanskrit compilation prepared by a pandit, Jagannatha Tercapanchanana, whose learned commentary is also featured in the work. Volume 1 elucidates Hindu jurisprudence on monetary issues, covering contracts, loans and deposits.

Memoirs of the Emperor Jahangueir
  • Written by Himself
  • Jahangir
  • Translated by David Price
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1829
  • The manuscript source for this translation of the memoirs of the Mughal emperor Jahangir (1569–1627) is the spurious Tarikh-i-Salim Shahi, produced around three years after its subject's death. Serving the East India Company from 1781 as a soldier and, following injury, as a translator, agent and judge-advocate-general, David Price (1762–1835) studied Persian and collected many manuscripts. After leaving India in 1805, he devoted his time to scholarship as a member of the Royal Asiatic Society and the Oriental Translation Fund, which awarded him its gold medal in 1830. In this work, first published in 1829, Price notes throughout where the source is illegible, problematic or incongruous. The translation is carefully made and provides an account of the reign and character of Jahangir which corresponds in places to the authentic memoirs, although containing several factual inaccuracies. Despite this, it remains a colourful reflection of Mughal historiography.

History of the Indian Archipelago
  • Containing an Account of the Manners, Art, Languages, Religions, Institutions, and Commerce of its Inhabitants
  • Volume 2
  • John Crawfurd
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    18 April 2013
    First published in:
    1820
  • Trained as a doctor, John Crawfurd (1783–1868) went on to have a distinguished career in colonial administration with the East India Company. He held senior posts in Java from 1811 to 1816, including that of resident at the court of Yogyakarta. A talented linguist and ethnologist, Crawfurd acquired a sound knowledge of ancient Kawi and contemporary Javanese. Upon his return to Britain in 1817, he became a fellow of the Royal Society and published this three-volume work on the Indonesian islands, principally Java, to great acclaim. Following further service abroad, he published accounts of his various missions in south-east Asia and an encyclopaedic sequel to the present work (all of which are reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection). Volume 2 examines language, literature, religion, and history, and the impact of Islam, Christianity and European colonisation.

A Digest of Hindu Law, on Contracts and Successions
  • With a Commentary by Jagannátha Tercapanchánana
  • Volume 2
  • Jagannátha Tercapanchánana
  • Translated by Henry Thomas Colebrooke
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 February 2013
    First published in:
    1801
  • An honorary professor of Sanskrit and Hindu law at Fort William College in Calcutta, and a key figure in the foundation of the Royal Asiatic Society, Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1765–1837) became Britain's foremost orientalist during the early nineteenth century. Taking up the reins of Sanskrit scholarship following the death of Sir William Jones (1746–94), Colebrooke made several substantial contributions to Indic study. Through seminal publications such as a grammar of Sanskrit and an extended article on the Vedas, he provided unprecedented access to one of the world's oldest languages and some of its oldest texts. Published in 1801, this three-volume translation of Brahman law was based on a Sanskrit compilation prepared by a pandit, Jagannatha Tercapanchanana, whose learned commentary is also featured in the work. Volume 2 expounds the legal issues concerning slavery, marriage and inheritance rights.

A Dictionary of the Mahratta Language
  • William Carey
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 February 2013
    First published in:
    1810
  • Marathi, an official language of Maharashtra and Goa, is among the twenty most widely spoken languages in the world. The southernmost Indo-Aryan language, it is also spoken in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Daman and Diu, and is believed to be over 1,300 years old, with its origins in Sanskrit. First published in 1810, this dictionary of Marathi (then known as Mahratta) was compiled by the Baptist missionary William Carey (1761–1834). Written during his time in India, it aimed to help European visitors communicate for business and social purposes with native speakers of the language. Methodical in its approach, it gives concise meanings and labels the various parts of speech. Containing over 9,500 entries in Devanagari script with English translations, it remains of interest to historical linguists and language typologists. Carey's 1805 grammar of Marathi is also reissued in this series.

Essay towards a Dictionary, Tibetan and English
  • Prepared, with the Assistance of Bandé Sangs-rgyas Phun-tshogs, a Learned Láma of Zangskár
  • Alexander Csoma de Kőrös
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1834
  • Tibetan comprises a cluster of Tibeto-Burman languages spoken across Central Asia. Its classical written form is a major Buddhist language. First published in 1834, this dictionary of Tibetan, believed to be the very first, was compiled by the Hungarian orientalist Kőrösi Csoma Sándor (c.1784–1842), who styled himself Alexander Csoma de Kőrös in English, and was considered to be the founder of the field of Tibetology. Containing over 20,000 entries with English translations, the dictionary was created during the author's travels in the East, during which he devoted himself to the study of the language. Remaining of great interest to linguists today, the dictionary begins with a useful guide to reading and understanding Tibetan words, with the value of each syllable given in Roman script. The entries themselves are arranged primarily under the language's thirty consonants, with irregular verb forms listed where necessary.

Elements of Chinese Grammar
  • With a Preliminary Dissertation on the Characters, and the Colloquial Medium of the Chinese, and an Appendix Containing the Tahyoh of Confucius with a Translation
  • Joshua Marshman
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1814
  • Chinese, in its various forms, is spoken today by over a billion people, making it the most spoken language in the world. A member of the Sino-Tibetan family, it is a tone language with an analytic structure. First published in 1814, this grammar of colloquial Chinese was compiled by the Christian missionary Joshua Marshman (1768–1837), who was inspired to do so after preparing a Chinese translation of the Bible. It begins with a preliminary essay outlining the characters of Chinese, its tones, its system of monosyllables and its relationship to neighbouring languages. The grammar itself is extensive, covering all aspects of the language's structure, including case, agreement, pronouns, verbs, mood, tense, prosody, parts of speech and dialect variation. Illustrated with numerous examples and explaining each grammatical concept in detail, this work remains useful and relevant in historical linguistics.

A Translation of the Memoirs of Eradut Khan
  • A Nobleman of Hindostan, Containing Interesting Anecdotes of the Emperor Aulumgeer Aurungzebe, and of his Successors
  • Iradat Khan
  • Translated by Jonathan Scott
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1786
  • A nobleman of the court of the Mughal emperor, Iradat Khan (c.1649–1716) experienced the rule of Aurangzeb (1618–1707) and observed at first hand the decline of the Mughal empire. This English translation of his memoirs was first published in 1786 by Jonathan Scott (1754–1829), a captain of the East India Company. He translated Khan's memoirs in order to educate the British about India's history and inform them about the Mughal empire. In these memoirs Khan relates anecdotes of his encounters with Aurangzeb and recounts the events following the emperor's death, including the rule of his son Bahadur Shah (1643–1712) between 1707 and 1712. The memoirs conclude with the death of Jahandar Shah (1661–1713), who ruled only briefly before being beaten in battle, captured and executed. Also included are extracts from Aurangzeb's last letters.

A Dictionary of the Burman Language
  • With Explanations in English
  • Adoniram Judson
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1826
  • This is the 1826 edition of the Burmese–English dictionary compiled from a grammar and other manuscripts written by the American Baptist missionary Adoniram Judson (1788–1850), with additional content by fellow missionaries Felix Carey and James Coleman. Prepared by the Baptist Mission Press while Judson was imprisoned on suspicion of spying in Ava, it is the fruit of his work towards making the written word an evangelistic tool. He was convinced from the first that the translation and publication of Christian scriptures and a familiarity with indigenous languages and customs was the most effective and enduring form of evangelism, and to this end he published a Burmese New Testament in 1832. Judson finished compiling his groundbreaking and comprehensive bilingual dictionary in 1849, shortly before his death. This earlier work, with headwords in Burmese script followed by English definitions, remains relevant in historical linguistics.

A Dictionary of the Malay Tongue
  • In Two Parts, to Which Is Prefixed a Grammar of that Language
  • James Howison
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1801
  • Published in 1801, this work is largely based on the first Malay–English dictionary, published 100 years earlier by Thomas Bowrey. A member of the Asiatic Society, although not recognised as a Malay scholar, James Howison seems to have lent his name to this version, produced in order to fill the gap caused by the scarcity of copies of the earlier dictionary. Since the British East India Company established a presence in the Malay Peninsula in 1786, the need for a compendium of working Malay had greatly increased. This reissue brings together the two parts of the dictionary in one volume for bidirectional coverage, and it includes the transliteration, though flawed, of the Arabic script of Jawi. Although superseded by William Marsden's 1812 dictionary and grammar (also reissued in this series), this nevertheless remains an interesting historical document, offering insight into the early colonial study of a language.

An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians
  • Written in Egypt during the Years 1833, –34, and –35, Partly from Notes Made during a Former Visit to that Country in the Years 1825, –26, –27 and –28
  • Volume 2
  • Edward William Lane
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    21 February 2013
    First published in:
    1836
  • Edward William Lane (1801–76) published this work in two volumes in 1836. Resident in the country for many years, and fluent in Arabic, he devoted his life's study to Egypt. A fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Institut de France, Lane translated One Thousand and One Nights and selections from the Koran. His major work was an Arabic-English lexicon; a monumental undertaking, he was working on the sixth volume when he died. Volume 2 of Modern Egyptians primarily details Cairo's vibrant public space, covering drug use, games, street music and dancers, as well as snake charmers, storytelling, celebratory festivals, and funerals. It also examines Egyptian industry and the Jewish and Copt minorities. A bestseller in its own day, this well-illustrated work remains a key text for students of nineteenth-century Egypt and the Arab world.

Life of Edward William Lane
  • Stanley Lane-Poole
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1877
  • The orientalist Edward William Lane (1801–1876) is best remembered for his mighty Arabic–English Lexicon and his classic translation of One Thousand and One Nights. Fascinated by Egypt, he made his first visit in 1825, undertaking a study of Egyptian life and customs which became his Description of Egypt, unpublished until more than a century after his death. His two-volume Modern Egyptians (also reissued in this series) remains an important text today. Material for the lexicon was collected in Cairo between 1842 and 1849 and, upon returning to England, Lane became a virtual recluse while compiling it. Following his death, the publication of the last three volumes was supervised by his great-nephew Stanley Lane-Poole (1854–1931). The sixth was prefaced with this biographical account, first published separately in 1877. It is based upon family recollections, the manuscript of Description of Egypt, and Lane's diary of his second stay there.

Historical Sketches of the South of India
  • In an Attempt to Trace the History of Mysoor, from the Origin of the Hindoo Government of that State, to the Extinction of the Mohammedan Dynasty in 1799
  • Volume 1
  • Mark Wilks
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    28 March 2013
    First published in:
    1810
  • Classically educated, Mark Wilks (c.1760–1831) joined the Madras army of the East India Company and would go on to serve as political resident at the court of Mysore from 1803 to 1808. He also later served as governor of Saint Helena from 1813 to 1816, during which time he witnessed the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte. Elected to the Manx parliament in 1816, Wilks became its speaker in 1826 and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in the same year. Drawing on state records and his own experiences, he first published this acclaimed three-volume history of the kingdom of Mysore between 1810 and 1817. Volume 1, an 1820 reprint of the 1810 original, covers the early Hindu dynasties, the Mughal period, the emergence of a separate Mysore under Hyder Ali (c.1720–82), and early French and British dealings in southern India to 1767.

A New Account of the East Indies
  • Being the Observations and Remarks of Capt. Alexander Hamilton
  • Volume 2
  • Alexander Hamilton
  • Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    18 April 2013
    First published in:
    1727
  • Little is known of Captain Alexander Hamilton other than what he tells us in this work, first published in 1727. Written during his retirement, it is both an invaluable source of information on south-east Asia at the time and a lively travelogue of Hamilton's adventurous seafaring life in the service of the East India Company and independently between 1688 and 1723. An engaging storyteller, Hamilton writes of encounters with pirates, the Portuguese, and of a poisoning in Malacca, as well as providing vivid descriptions of the countries he visited - from Africa to Japan via India, Sumatra and China - and their social customs, religions, trade and commerce. His idiosyncratic maps and illustrations enhance his narrative despite his admission that he makes 'but little use of the pencil'. Volume 2 takes the reader up the east coast of India, thence to Burma, Sumatra, Java, Thailand, Cambodia, China, and finally Japan.

Page 5 of 6