British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
A HUNDRED YEARS OF DUNHUANG, 1907-2007
Abstracts
Rudolf Hoernle and Aurel Stein
Ursula Sims-Williams, British Library
This paper will describe the background to the first of Stein's Central Asian expeditions, namely his expedition to Khotan between 1900 and 1901. With the announcement of the discovery of the Bower manuscript in the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society for Bengal, November 1890, both the Russians, from 1891, and the Government of India, from 1893, began collecting Central Asian antiquities and manuscripts. Hoernle's pioneering work of 1893 and 1897 on material in the 'British Collection of Central Asian Antiquities' paved the way for a full archaeological expedition. This paper discusses the collaboration of the two scholars, Hoernle's contribution to the evaluation of the finds, and the formation of the 'Hoernle' Collection of manuscripts in the British Library.