The oriental biographical dictionary / By the late Thomas William Beale ... Ed. by the Asiatic society of Bengal, under the superintendence of Henry George Keene.

  • Beale, Thomas William, -1875.
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The oriental biographical dictionary / By the late Thomas William Beale ... Ed. by the Asiatic society of Bengal, under the superintendence of Henry George Keene. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a man who had never been in Europe nor enjoyed the use of a complete Library. Mr. Beale had drawn up a list of more than thirty books in various languages which had furnished him with materials. In addition the editors have from time to time referred to the translation of the Ain Akbari and its invaluable notes by Mr. Blochmann, of which the 1st Volume (never, alas, continued) was published in Calcutta some years ago. One word more as to the inexhaustible subject of transliteration. The English as is well known have three methods; the Haphazard (which indeed is no method at all), the Gilchristian, and the popularised Jonesian introduced by the Government of India under the inspiration of Mr. W. W. Hunter. None of these is quite satisfactory. The French adopt a system of their own, and so do the Germans. Mr. Beale had followed an orthography, compounded of the two first-named elements, which has been to some extent modified in printing these pages. For the convenience of Continental European scholars the names have also been printed in the Persian character; and it is hoped that no practical difficulty will be experienced by those who may have occasion to use the Dictionary. H. G. KEENE. Meekut, September, 1881.