The present title of the Asiatic Society's publication has been compiled in three parts by Srimati Minati Chatterjee, former Cataloguer in our Museum Section. The idea of this compilation has been to put together a huge and rare treasures on tangible documents available in the collection of the Society. It is typolosised here as Part 1: Drawings and Engravings, Part II Maps, and Part III English Manuscripts. Some of these documents were already brought to the notice of the scholars and researchers by way of publishing them in the Journal of The Asiatic Society few years back and have been mentioned by the compiler. The mass of these database have been reorganised now in a modified form so as to enable the interested scholars to access them easily in one place as a ready reference. The labour of Smt. Chatterjee will be really fruitful if it is appreciated by the concerned scholars.
The Asiatic Society can rightly boast of a very ancient tradition since its inception in 1784. As a mother organisation it initiated and inspired most of the very important and significant institutions & academics in the fields of Humanities, Science, Medicine, and Culture. A good part of its rich collection of manuscripts as well as lithographs & maps covering diverse areas of knowledge and learning will enrich concerned students, scholars & researchers. Scholars will be the true inheritors of the tradition of Sir William Jones, Csoma-De-Koros, Rajendralala Mitra, Haraprasad Sastri and Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji which can show the knowledge, wisdom and culture not only in India, but to the whole world. According to Mrs. Indira Gandhi "Heritage is not merely to be admired and drawn upon. It has to be studied in depth and as a means of self-understanding, it has to be preserved, cherished and enriched" This is precisely what the Society seeks to do. In the museum of the Society there are no catalogues of the English Manuscripts, maps, lithographs, photographs, drawings, albums, etc. Now an attempt has been made. For the benefit of the scholars and to the best of my long-cherished studies and experiences I present three catalogues in one 1. Catalogue of Drawings and Engravings. 2. Catgalogue of Maps. 3. Catalogue of English Manuscripts. Before I conclude I must convey my gratefulness to the Late Dr. Chandan Roy Choudhury, Former General Secretary of the Asiatic Society & Former General Secretary, Late Dr. Manabendu Banerjee, Present General Secretary Dr. Satyabrata Chakrabarti, Dr. Ramkrishna Chatterjee, Publication Secretary and Dr. Pallab Sengupta, Former President, for their valuable advice towards ratification of this publication. I am also grateful to the Late Subhadra Kumar Sen, former Treasurer, who inspired me to publish the catalogue of Drawings and Engravings. I must be grateful to Professor Ashok Kr. Bhattacharya, who edited first two spells of Drawings and Engravings published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society. I must mention my teacher Professor Sachindranath Bhattacharya for his kind support during preparing the catalogue of maps and of course my husband Mr. Jayanta Kr. Chatterjee for his inspiration and lingual support. Last but not the least, this would not have been possible without the help of my colleagues in both the Museum and the Publication Sections.
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