Showing 311 results

The Royal Asiatic Society has operated as a membership organisation since its founding. This collection contains records relating to the Society's membership, including administrative and financial documents such as membership lists and subscriptions ledgers, papers relating to membership application and election, as well as other textual and visual material which came into the Society's holdings as a result of its interaction with members.

The relationship between the Society and its members is further documented in this collection through letters, notices and other communications such as newsletters.

Printed genealogical material and maps relating to two princely states of British India, Kharan and Makran, now part of the Balochistan/Baluchistan province of Pakistan, including:

• Offprint of Appendix I of Kharan Gazetteer, Volume VIIA of the Baluchistan District Gazetteer Series, 1907, being the printed genealogical tree of the Nausherwanis of Kharan and Makran. Note at the bottom states that the tree is in disagreement with that given in Makran Gazetteer published in the same Gazetteer series, and that this tree was prepared from information supplied by the Chief of Kharan so is probably more correct
• Printed genealogical tree of the Kakar Tribe which is found in the Kharan region, tracing the lineage of the tribe from Qais Abdul Rashid. Prepared by Mir Shams Shah, K. B., Settlement Extra Assistant Commissioner in Baluchistan, and produced by Major A. H. McMahon, Revenue Commissioner in Baluchistan, December 1901. Probably an appendix of an edition of the Baluchistan District Gazetteer Series
• Coloured printed map of Makran on a 1 inch to 16 miles scale, showing its boundaries, major roads, tracks and rivers. No. 28[8]8, printed by Thomason College, Roorkee in February 1907. 47cm (h) x 48cm (w)
• Coloured printed map of Kharan on a 1 inch to 10 miles scale, showing its boundaries, routes, rivers and Kharan Chief’s military outposts. No. 3235, printed by Thomason College, Roorkee in August 1907. 46cm (h) x 46cm (w)

A map of the southern coast of China, in the form of a scroll, covering the area of present-day Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi. It labels various major towns and smaller islands along the coast, including Guangzhou, Chaozhou, present-day Hong Kong and Macao and more, with a scale bar and legend (although probably not drawn to scale). Locations of settlements and military structures such as towers and forts are also indicated, with text describing the depth of water and distance from the coast at various points. The map measures 40cm high and 485cm wide. It has been removed from its original container, a wooden cylinder, which is now stored alongside each other.

An accompanying typed note refers the item as 'Ch'ou hai t'u pien' (籌海圖編), No. 429 on page 75 of Samuel Kidd's catalogue and a donation by Sir George Staunton. This catalogue reference appears to be incorrect, as it does not correspond to Kidd's Catalogue of the Chinese Library of the Royal Asiatic Society (1838), but Henry Holt's A Catalogue of the Chinese Manuscript in the Library of the Royal Asiatic Society (1890). However, Holt's entry describes a set of 8 volumes of 'Ch'ou hai t'u pien' published in 1624, instead of a single map, and this scroll was unlikely part of the volumes.

It is possible that this map was adapted from those originally published in 'Ch'ou hai t'u pien', with extra information added to it, and was specially made for Staunton. Another source from which this map might have taken reference is 'Ya nhai quan tu' (沿海全圖), part of 'Hai guo wen jian lu' (海國聞見錄), compiled by Chen Lunjiong in 1730.

Two copies of Imperially Commissioned Illustrations of Tilling and Weaving (Yuzhi gengzhi tu 御製耕織圖), a book illustrating the processes of rice growing and silk production which was first printed in 1696 by order of the Qing emperor Kangxi. The two copies are both woodblock-printed, but are different editions.

Copy 1

This copy is in a concertina format. It includes a preface, followed by a section on rice and the other on silk. Each section contains woodcut prints facing each other, each containing an inscription in it and accompanied by poetry composed by Kangxi in the upper margin, with seals in black. There are 44 prints in total, including 23 from the rice section and 21 from the silk section.

This copy has disintegrated into several parts and no covers are present. The opening page of the preface is missing, and two prints from the silk section (for steps of ‘warming the screens’ 炙箔 and ‘demounting’ 下簇) appear to be also missing. Page size measures 37cm high and 28cm wide.

Copy 2

This copy is in traditional Chinese thread binding. It includes a complete preface and one section on rice and the other on silk. Each woodcut print also contains an inscription and is followed by poetry on the verso. For each print the poetry composed by Kangxi is followed by additional poetry, including that composed by the Emperors Yungzheng and Qianlong, the latter in honour of the original poetry composed by Kangxi. This suggests that this copy is a later edition and is datable to the reign of the Emperor Qianlong (1735–1796). There are no seals accompanying the prints. There are 46 prints in total, including 23 from each section.

Annotation in pencil on the cover reads: ‘Pictorial Representation of Rice-growing + Silk [?] with preface by Kiang Hei, dated 1696’. A label on the cover bears the reference number ‘RAS 50’. Annotation in ink on the bottom edge reads: ‘御製耕織圖’. Page size measures 28.5cm high and 29.5cm wide.

Stored together with this copy is a photocopy of an article on the book, possibly taken from an auction catalogue (reference number 14921), made in October 2002.

Sketch indicating multiple routes in red ink between the hilly villages of Adjuntah (Ajanta) and Lackenwarrie (Lakhanwada) in the present-day Maharashtra state, India, with references of all routes on the left of the sketch. Annotation in ink near the heading reads ‘M. Lo. Schoofflnsign H. M. 67th foot’.

Drawn on a scale of 2 miles to 1 inch. Mounted on linen with red border. Measures 94 cm wide x 33 cm high.

A collection of palm-size printed chanting lyrics booklets, utaibon (謡本), of the Hosho school (宝生流) of Noh, a form of traditional Japanese theatre.

The booklets, in thread binding with yellow paper covers, are divided into two sets, including 10 booklets for uchi-hyakuban (内百番), referring to the common chants, and 11 booklets for soto-hyakuban (外百拾番), referring to the uncommon ones. A title label pasted onto the cover of each booklet indicates the chants included in it. There are lyrics for 220 chants in total. Each booklet measures 8.8 cm (w) x 12 cm (h).

These are housed in a wooden box with two compartments. Handwritten RAS label on the lid reads: ‘Japanese Print. 2 collections of Po[sins]. Taka Sago and Ho Show Kawa’ and on the underside of the lid is a printed list of all chants included in the booklets. The wooden box is probably made specifically to house the booklets after they came into the possession of the Library as the divider in the box is annotated ‘division’.

A set of four hanging scrolls, each containing pages from the book Pictures of Emperors (帝王像) printed on one continuous sheet and then mounted as a scroll. Compiled by scholar Xu Han (1797-1866) in the Qing dynasty, the book is a selection of certain rubbings taken from the stone carvings found in the Wu Liang Shrine (武梁祠) which dates to the Eastern Han dynasty in the 2nd century.

The scrolls include all pages from the book, including those depicting legendary sovereigns, such as the Yellow Emperor and Shennong, the four stories of filial piety as well as the ownership and appreciation inscription. Each scroll measures 53cm (w) x 135cm (h).

A reproduced rubbing of the calligraphy of the Chinese poem ‘Rhapsody on the Luo River Goddess’ (洛神賦), signed by the Qing scholar Hu Gaowang (1730?-1798) in 1766, mounted onto a hanging silk scroll. The scroll measures 35cm (w) x 91cm (h).

Inscribed ‘This is a great curiosity’ at the top of the back of the scroll. A note, containing a free translation of the poem in English, was originally rolled into the scroll but has now been separated and stored together. At the back of it is two notes stating: ‘Translated by Harry Parkes’ and ‘The original roll was taken in a Piratical Junk by H. M. S. Rattler in Namguan Harbor. May 1853.’ Both the inscription and the notes are signed ‘A. M.’.

A printed facsimile of Book Six of the Chinese classical book Book of Documents (Shujing) in the format of a scroll, with added typographical marks in red. This version of the text was originally copied and annotated by Nakahara Yasutaka in 1330, and this facsimile was published by Toyo Bunko in 1939. This scroll is number 255 of a limited edition of 300 copies, and is accompanied by a thread-bound booklet containing explanatory text of the reproduction and the book.

The cardboard case in which the scroll was originally stored contains a printed title label and is inscribed ‘No 660 Shu Ching (BK 6. Facsimile reproduction)’. This refers to number 660 in Shelly Wang’s Chinese catalogue. The case has disintegrated into two pieces.

The scroll measures 930cm (w) x 25cm (h).

Two rubbings donated by William W. Rockhill, containing Chinese, Siddham and Tibetan writings.