Asiatick researches or transactions of the Society: instituted in Bengal for inquiring into the history and antiquities, the arts, sciences, and literature of Asia.

Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1788. On the Hindus. In: Asiatick researches or transactions of the Society,. instituted in Bengal for inquiring into the history and antiquities, the ARTS, SCIENCES, and LITERATURE of Asia. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1788.

True first edition (preceding the London issue). Quarto (11 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches; 285 x 215 mm.). Xvi, 465, [1, errata] pp. With thirty-four engraved plates (of which three are folding).

Contemporary tree calf with twining gilt borders, expertly rebacked preserving the original spine, smooth spine densely gilt and with red and black morocco gilt lettering labels, marbled endpapers. A very attractive copy.

This scholarly periodical went to twenty volumes but the key piece, the piece cited by Carter in Printing and the Mind of Man, is found in this first volume; "This slim paper, read to the Bengal Asiatic Society in 1786 and published in its Tarnsactions, marks a turning point in the history of linguistics and signalled the birth of comparative philology. Jones a product of Harrow and University College, had established his reputation as an orientalist by his Grammar of the Persian Language (1771) and Poeseos Asiaticae Commentariorum Libri VI (1774)... In 1783 he was knighted and appointed a judge of the high court in Calcutta, the administrative seat of the East India Company, an office which he held until his death. Here Jones indulged his oriental studies, founded the Asiatic Society of Bengal (1784), edited its Journal of Asiatic Researches, translated Indian classics into English... In 1786 Jones made his epoch-making discovery of the relationship between the Sanskrit, Gothic, Greek and Latin languages-to which he later, erroneously, thought he could add Egyptian. His clear understanding of the basic principles of scientific linguistics provided the foundation on which Rask, Bopp, and Grimm built the imposing structure of comparative Indo-European studies" (PMM).

Printing and the Mind of Man 235.

HBS 65336.

$7,500.