Introduction to the Early Correspondence of the Asiatic Society (1766-1835)

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It gives me immense pleasure in placing before the discerning readers the publication "Introduction to the early correspondence of the Asiatic Society (1766-1835)" with an introductory note by Prof. Amalendu De, the present President of the Asiatic Society. The present volume of the early correspondence would throw a new light on the objectives and the role of the founding fathers of the Asiatic Society.
I hope the present venture of the Asiatic Society to focus attention on the store house of research materials in the Society would receive due acknowledgement from the knowledgeable circle of scholars and readers alike and the efforts would continue in the years to come.

This Correspondence, serialized in the Journal of the Asiatic Society, would throw valuable light on the role of the Society from 1784 to 1835. This source material would be of great help to those who are interested in the history of the Asiatic Society. The idea of publishing the Correspondence in the Journal of the Society was, however, mooted by Professor Subhadra Kumar Sen, Treasurer of the Society, in July 2002. The Council of the Society decided to publish it with an introduction of mine. The early Correspondence of the period was divided into four parts followed by four appendices, viz., Part 1-1766-1825, Part 2-1826-1827, Part 3-1828-1830 and Part 4-1831-1835; and, Appendix-A, Appendix-B, Appendix-C and Appendix-D. The introduction to these Parts was written by me on 20.0.2002 (J.A.S., Vol. XLIV, No. 1, 2002), 12.12.2002 (J.A.S., Vol. XLIV, No. 2, 2002), 17.1.2003 (J.A.S., Vol. XLIV, No. 3, 2002) and 3.2.2003 (J.A.S., Vol. XLIV, No. 4, 2003). These four parts together are now published with the title Introduction to the Early Correspondence of the Asiatic Society (1766-1835).
It is to be noted that Sri Sovan Basu, who had expertise in dealing with the archival materials, joined the Society as an Archivist in 1988. He initiated physical verification of archival records possessed by the Society. With great patience and meticulous care Sri Basu completed the documentation of Correspondence and prepared bound volumes of this for the use of the scholars. He also completed the documentation of paintings with necessary annotations. These are now available in bound volumes. Sri Basu was with the Society for about two years. After him Mrs. Jasodhara Chatterjee, Keeper of the Museum, also took part in the compilation work. At that time Mrs. Manjula Chaudhury, as a Senior Cataloguer of the Society assisted Sri Basu and Mrs. Chatterjee in this work. Mrs. Banani Banerjee, a documentation scholar of the Society, also assisted Sri Basu for a short period.
In spite of the completion of documentation of Correspondence and Paintings the then authorities of the Society could not publish them. No attempt was also made to publish a monograph on the Busts in possession of the Society with necessary annotation of each bust.