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"Shanscrit & Bhakka of [Chanduchhaya Donguyal Rajah]". A handwritten manuscript in Braj in Devanagari script. The manuscript appears to relate part of the Mahābhārata story but is not accurately transcribed.

The paper is torn in the middle and therefore fragile.

'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.

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

There are three Chinese documents concerning trade and interaction with the English. With the documents are English abstracts and modern Chinese translations created in 2018.

Sketch and description of a temple fresco, Reespa, on the banks of the Sutlej river, Kinnaur district, northern India. The sketch is in coloured pencil depicting the Supreme Deity, attendants and other symbolic figures. This was copied from a fresco, about 6 feet square, on the temple wall. The paper of the sketch is badly torn and care is needed in handling the document.

With the sketch is a detailed description which was told to Major Salter, Bengal Army, by the temple priest. This document also dates the item to 17 July 1838 and records that it was presented to the Society by Sir C. Malcolm (Rear-Admiral Sir Charles Malclom).

In 1934, a vase was unearthed in excavations at Tell ed-Duweir (Tell Lachish) in an expedition led by James Leslie Starkey. Theodor Gaster undertook to decipher the inscription on the vase, but before his decipherment was announced in The Times Newspaper the decipherment had been attributed to another. The items that comprise this collection are:

• Letter from Theodor Gaster to Colonel Hoysted, Secretary, Royal Asiatic Society, to lodge with him a 'lettre cachée' with his decipherment of the new script found on the vase. He claimed that he had originally communicated the decipherment to James Starkey but had suppressed its publication until the discovery of the ewer had been announced in The Times. However, in that time, another had been attributed with the decipherment. He was therefore sending a copy of his letter to Starkey, as proof of his claim, to both the Royal Asiatic Society and the Palestine Exploration Fund. With the letter is his copy of the decipherment and an envelope labelled 'Lettre cachée deposited with the R.A.S. by Theodor Gaster on 12.6.34'.
• "Discovery at Tell Duweir: Identification of the Characters" - letter to the Editor printed in The Times, 12 June 1934, written by Theodor Gaster.
• "Discovery at Tell Duweir: Early Alphabets" - letter to the Editor printed in The Times, 13 June 1934, written by Alan H. Gardiner disputing the decipherment.
• "Discovery at Tell Duweir: A Translation of the Inscription" - letter to the Editor printed in The Times, dated 20 June 1934, written by F. Melian Stawell to add her contribution to the decipherment.

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.

A letter from Colonel Henry Helsham-Jones to Sir Edward Douglas Maclagan to give information regarding the Patparganj Pillar. This was erected in 1916 to commemorate the 1803 Battle of Delhi. Helsham-Jones relates that he had heard from Col. Creswell, a former Royal Engineer, who was assistant engineer when Helsham-Jones had been constructing the Lower Ganges Canal. Creswell had asked his daughter, a Mrs Talbot, when at Delhi, about the Pillar. Mrs Talbot had seen the pillar and asked General Norman who informed her that he "had moved the pillar to what was considered the right spot". Helsham-Jones therefore supposes that the pillar has been moved and set up on the mound mentioned at the conclusion of Maclagan's monograph.

With the letter is a note to say that the letter had been found in a copy of the Journal of the Panjab Historical Society, Vol. I, 1911-12 and that this Journal had been given to the Society by Maclagan.

The pillar can currently be found within the grounds of the Noida Golf Course.

An English translation of "Entwurf einer Grammatik der Herero Sprache", the work by Karl Hugo Hahn, that was supposed to be undertaken with the linguist Wilhelm Bleek. As this was not possible, due to circumstances, Hahn delivered his own version of the book to Riga in 1854. It is the first grammar of the Herero language spoken by the Herero people in Southern Africa.

The manuscript of 208 pages is heavily corrected and the translator is not identified. There is a note on a torn piece of paper which states "Presented ... Sir Bartle Frere K.G.C.B., C.S.I. by the Translator, Cape Town, January 19th 1880.