From London to Surat and back to Mashhad
It has been a busy week in the Reading Room. We have had many researchers in looking at different things including Persian manuscripts. Malay manuscripts, Buginese manuscript, manuscripts and drawings...
View ArticleSinologists of yore: traces spotted during a few days in Hong Kong
I recently visited Hong Kong to participate in a conference, Crossing Borders: Sinology in Translation Studies, organized by the Department of Translation and Research Centre for Translation at the...
View ArticleOn the Silk Road in London
The Society held its first summer course on the ‘Silk Road’ from the 8th – 11th July. We had 8 attendees and Dr Susan Whitfield lectured on the history of the Silk Road trade routes, as well as the...
View ArticleBurmese manuscript conservation success
We are delighted to announce that the project to conserve one of the Society’s Burmese manuscripts, and its rare woven braid (sazigyo), was recently completed. The conservation of these precious...
View ArticleRaffles in Java
On Tuesday 30th July, we welcomed Dr Sarah Tiffin to lecture on “Raffles and the Course of Empire: Decoding Ruin Imagery in The History of Java”. The lecture, reflecting some of the material developed...
View ArticleProfessor E.H.S. (Stuart) Simmonds
Earlier this summer, the Society was honoured to accept the donation of a portrait of Professor E.H.S. Simmonds (1919-1994). The painting is by his wife, Patricia Simmonds (1923-2018), an actress and...
View ArticleAristide Marre and Isabelle Pinches
I have spent much of the summer months sorting through institutional records, applying retention schedules to make sense of which records need to be kept for both current and archival purposes. It has...
View ArticleTreasures Uncovered
Yesterday, a researcher came to look at some of our maps. The maps are an area of the Collections which still need some sorting and ordering, so I needed to work through the shelves to find the maps...
View ArticleSir Stamford Raffles: Exhibitions, Collections, Legacy
This post is by Edward Weech. Nancy Charley, who writes most of our blog posts, is on holiday. Last week, I was fortunate to be able to attend the opening of the British Museum exhibition, “Sir...
View ArticleConserving and Celebrating our Burmese Collections
Earlier this week, the Society hosted a small event to commemorate the conservation of one of its manuscripts. This is a Kammavācā, a Pali term which means “an assemblage of passages from the Tipitaka...
View ArticleThe Bayly Prize for 2019
We are pleased to announce the shortlist for the Bayly Prize for 2019. This the second time the Prize will be awarded. You can read all about the inaugural presentation in 2018 in this previous blog...
View ArticleConferences, Congresses and Societies
Over the course of the Royal Asiatic Society’s history, the Society has been associated with, and attended, many conferences, congresses and societies. These associations are primarily concerned with...
View ArticleProfessor David O. Morgan
It is with great sadness that we report the death of Professor David O. Morgan this week. Professor Morgan was an expert in the field of Mongol studies and also a good friend to the Royal Asiatic...
View ArticleChristopher Bayly, Stuart Simmonds and H.G. Quaritch Wales
As the bicentenary of the Royal Asiatic Society approaches in 2023, the Council, Members of the Society, and staff are already thinking of how we might like to mark the event and how the Society can...
View ArticleLectures and Events
This week, on Tuesday 5th November, we welcomed Paul Bromberg to the Royal Asiatic Society. Paul Bromberg, the serving editor of the Journal of the Siam Society and a contributing editor to Arts of...
View ArticleCelebrating Georgia and India
On Monday 11 November, the Society with the British Georgian Society hosted the annual celebration for Rustaveli day, marking the 150th birthday of Marjory Scott Wardrop (1869-1909), the first...
View ArticleOld Bagan, and The Human Odyssey
The last fortnight has seen perhaps the Society’s busiest period during this academic term. Following the three evening events last week, the Society was delighted to host another two lectures this...
View ArticleThe Empress Dowager Cixi
On this day, 29th November, in 1835, the Empress Dowager Cixi was born. She was a formidable woman who, for a good part of her 73 years, held considerable power in Imperial China as both consort and...
View ArticleWhere to Catalogue the Inscription from Kedah?
The main focus for my cataloguing on to Archives Hub in the last few weeks has been material associated with Societies that are, or have been, allied with the Royal Asiatic Society. This morning I...
View ArticleBibles, Mulberries, Cambodia, and the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
Last week saw two very different lectures from Dr George Mak and Dr Peter Coles looking at the history of the Mandarin Union version of the Bible and of Mulberry trees. More of that below, but first: A...
View Article
