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Language, script and symbol in West Africa
West Africa is a place of great diversity – in language, in writing, in the hugely varied means of recording information and passing it on. Marion Wallace and Janet Topp Fargion (British Library) explore the region’s contribution to literacy, and the creativity with which West Africans communicate in word and...Wallace, Marion ; Topp Fargion, Janet
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Learning object
Topography and the historic shelving schemes at the British Library
Throughout the last 400 years librarians and curators have taken different approaches to classify topographical collections. Adrian Edwards, Head of Printed Heritage Collections at the British Library, explores the historic shelving schemes and traces the development of their organisation.Edwards, Adrian S.
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Blog post
Hume’s Stray Feathers
Allan Octavian Hume (1829-1912), British administrator and one of the founders of the Indian National Congress, recorded an extraordinary story of resilience, the ability of people to cope with disruptions. Hume was a respected ornithologist. In January 1875 he boarded an old gunboat fitted for the Indian Marine Survey to...Déri, Andrea
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Blog post
Conference on Digital Islamic Humanities
Two representatives from the British Library attended the recent conference, ‘The Digital Humanities + Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies’, hosted by the Middle Eastern Studies Department of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Organised by Dr Elias Muhanna and held on 24-25 October 2013, this conference sought to bring together...Lowe, Daniel ; Sobers-Khan, Nurs
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Blog post
Book of Affairs of Love
Karnama-i ‘Ishq (Book of affairs of love) by the Hindu poet Rai Anand Ram Mukhlis (d. 1751) is a romance in Persian on the afflictions of a young man’s heart and the challenges he faces for eternal love. The poetical narrative is derived from an existing Hindi literary work, the...Roy, Malini
Mughal India, South Asia, and art
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Blog post
Marianne North's Visions of India
The British Library holds one of the richest archives of prints, drawings and photographs from South Asia. As Visual Arts Curator, exploring the vast collections and learning about the history of the works of art is just part of my daily activities. Although my previous blog posts have focused on...Roy, Malini
South East Asia, South Asia, and art
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Blog post
A farewell to the Mughals
British Library's exhibition Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire closed on 2 April 2013. The last few days of the exhibition saw a record number of visitors! Since opening in November 2012, we have been surprised by the overwhelming response from the press and social media. We never anticipated being...Roy, Malini
science, Mughal India, and art
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Blog post
Mughal painting by Faizallah recently acquired by the British Library
In our recent exhibition and the accompanying publication Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire, we featured paintings made in Delhi as well as at the Mughal province of Awadh during the 18th century. In March, we were able to add to our collection a splendid work by the artist Faizallah...Roy, Malini
Mughal India, South Asia, and art
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Learning object
"مأساة الخليج العربي": وفاة وتَرِكة جون جوردون لوريمر
لقد اعتُبِرَت الوفاة المبكرة لجون جوردون لوريمر، المقيم المُفوّض في الخليج العربي ١٩١٣-١٩١٤، مأساة حزينة. مع ذلك فإن تَرِكته المتمثلة في "دليل الخليج وعمان ووسط الجزيرة العربية"، الذي ظهر بعد أربعين عامًا من وفاته، ظلت مصدرًا أساسيًا لجميع الدراسات التي أُجريت عن الخليج منذ ذلك الحين. في صباح يوم الأحد...Lowe, Daniel
المكان, موسوعات, عمليات الاستخبارات, بوشهر, and الخليج العربي
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Blog post
Distinctive leg-of-mutton legs and fine jewels: a new display of Indian paintings in the Treasures of the British Library
Regular visitors to the Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library, may have encountered our recent display of Natural History drawings from India next to the entrance to the Magna Carta. From 8 March 2014, a new display of Indian paintings from the Visual Arts collection will be...Roy, Malini
Hinduism, South Asia, exhibitions, and art
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Blog post
The accident that befell Sir Donald Friell McLeod
Even if the attendant or station inspector had shouted ‘Mind the Gap’ (the phrase first used in 1969 at rail stations in the United Kingdom), it would not have prevented the horrific accident that befell Sir Donald Friell McLeod at the railway station at Gloucester Road in 1872. Arriving at...Roy, Malini
religion, South Asia, art, and visual arts
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Blog post
William Beckford's albums on Hindu mythology
The English novelist and noted bibliophile William Beckford is highlighted in the British Library’s current exhibition ‘Terror and Wonder: the Gothic Imagination’. Exhibition curators (Greg Buzwell, Tanya Kirk and Tim Pye) feature Beckford’s Gothic novel Vathek as one of the earliest examples in this style. Beckford’s masterpiece expressed the ‘orientalist...Roy, Malini
Hinduism, religion, South Asia, exhibitions, and art
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Learning object
للملك جورج الخامس مها الملك: هدية ابن سعود الدبلوماسية
كانت هدية ابن سعود في سنة ١٩٢٠عبارة عن أنثى المها وهي أول هدية تمكنت من التغلب على الرحلة الصعبة من الجزيرة العربية إلى لندن. في رسالة بين ملك بريطانيا وأمير نجد في سنة ١٩٢٠م لوحظ أن حيوانًا "فريدًا من نوعه" قد وصل إلى لندن، وفي الواقع "لم يصل آي حيوان...Lowe, Daniel
آل سعود, المملكة العربية السعودية, الحرب العالمية الأولى (١٩١٤-١٩١٨), and سعود بن عبد العزيز آل سعود
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Learning object
وفاة النقيب شكسبير
تُسلط رواية غير معروفة حكاها شاهد عيان، وحصل عليها الوكلاء البريطانيون بالبحرين من قبيل الصدفة، الضوء على وفاة وليام هنري إيرفين شكسبير. يعتبر النقيب وليام هنري إيرفين شكسبير شخصية غامضة في تاريخ العلاقات الإنجليزية السعودية. ورغم أنه كان من أصغر الوكلاء السياسيين سناً ممن خدموا في الخليج، إلا أنه من...Lowe, Daniel
آل سعود, المملكة العربية السعودية, الحرب العالمية الأولى (١٩١٤-١٩١٨), الكويت, العمليات العسكرية, سعود بن عبد العزيز آل سعود, and نجد
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Learning object
The King’s Oryx: Ibn Saud’s Diplomatic Gift to George V
In 1920, a gift from Ibn Saud in the form of a female oryx was the first ever to have survived the difficult journey from Arabia to London. In correspondence between HM the King and the Amir of Najd of 1920 it was noted that an animal ‘unique of its...Lowe, Daniel
Āl Sa'ūd (Family), King of Saudi Arabia Sa'ūd bin 'Abd al-'Azīz Āl Sa'ūd, Saudi Arabia, and First World War (1914-1918)
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Learning object
The Death of Captain Shakespear
A little known first-hand account, that the British Agents in Bahrain garnered by chance, sheds light on William Henry Irvine Shakespear’s death. Captain William Henry Irvine Shakespear is an enigmatic figure in the history of Anglo-Saudi relations. Although he was one of the youngest Political Agents to serve in the...Lowe, Daniel
military operations, Naid, Āl Sa'ūd (Family), Kuwait, King of Saudi Arabia Sa'ūd bin 'Abd al-'Azīz Āl Sa'ūd, Saudi Arabia, and First World War (1914-1918)
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Blog post
George Percy Churchill’s Biographical Notices of Persian Statesmen and Notables
In 1906, the Government of India Foreign Department published (and republished in 1910) an index of prominent Qajar statesmen, compiled by George Percy Churchill, Oriental Secretary at the British Legation in Tehran. According to Cyrus Ghani, this collection of notes and genealogical tables, entitled Biographical Notices of Persian Statesmen and...Lowe, Daniel