Catalogue of the Burney Parabaiks in the India Office Library with an appendix by Evans Lewin, Patricia Herbert and D. K. Wyatt listing the Burney Papers in the Library of the Royal Commonwealth Society
Resource type
Book
Creator (person)
Blackmore, Thaung
Date published
1985
Abstract
This is the third volume in the British Academy’s Oriental Documents Series dealing with documents preserved in the India Office Library and Records, and the first to be published on the Committee’s behalf by the British Library. Responsibility for the administration and management of the India Office Library and Records passed on 1 April 1983 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to the Board of the British Library and this accounts for the change of imprint from the two previous volumes.
The Burmese documents described in this preliminary catalogue are from an interesting period in Anglo-Burman relations and were brought together by the first British permanent Resident at the Court of Ava, Henry Burney, a rather neglected figure until the publication of the late Professor D.G.E. Hall’s biography in 1974. Dr Blackmore recognised the importance of the collection (for parabaiks from this early nineteenth century period are scarce), and with her knowledge of the background of Burmese history and access to Burney’s official papers, was the obvious person to undertake the task of examining and describing the collection.
The documents themselves have not previously been much exploited for want of a satisfactory listing and the IOLR was extremely fortunate to be able to obtain the assistance of Dr Blackmore for this task. The work was made possible by a subvention from the British Academy’s Oriental Documents Committee whose help is gratefully acknowledged. Publication of the catalogue has regrettably been delayed for several years but I now hope that it will give an added impetus to Burmese studies in the United Kingdom and make another section of the IOLR’S wide-ranging collections accessible to scholars.
Contributor (person)
Lewin, Evans
Herbert, Patricia
Wyatt, D. K.
Publisher
British Library
Place of publication
London, UK
Official URL
Keywords