Major donations to the Centre of South Asian Studies Book Archive

Probably the largest donation to the Archives is the Ian Stephens bequest of which over 230 items were catalogued in 2018. He was Deputy Director, Bureau of Public Information, Government of India 1930-32; Director, 1932-37; Assistant Editor, Statesman of Calcutta 1937; Editor 1942-51; Fellow, King's College, Cambridge 1952-58; Historian, Pakistan Government 1957-60. The Stephens collection includes the memoirs of General the Lord Ismay (Archive IS 339) and a general history: Eating the Indian air : memories and present-day impressions by John Morris. (Archive IS 80)

"He rushed out of his hiding-place and killed the serpent."Illustrator: Warwick Goble (Folk-tales of Bengal) Archive E 96,
Chatterjee donation

The largest donations which have had on-line catalogue entries created have come from Lady Alan Lloyd, (Archive A 1-108), book plates recording that that the collection was given to the Archive by Mrs R.S. Drake, Mrs J.W. Harman and Mrs C.A. McDowall from a bequest of the the late Lady (Alan) Lloyd in July 1969, and Lady Chatterjee (Archive E 1-136).

Lloyd donation
Lady Violet Mary Lloyd nee Orrock was the wife of Sir Alan Hubert Lloyd (1883-1948), who joined the Indian Civil Service in Burma, 1907; served in Customs Department, 1910–23; Member Central Board of Revenue, India, 1923–38; Secretary, Commerce Department, Government of India, 1939–42; and finally retired, after temporary re-employment in 1947. He died 9 May 1948, “on his way home“, The Times, Wednesday, May 12, 1948.  Violet Mary Lloyd died 27 Aug 1967 in Freshwater, Isle of Wight, where both she and her husband are buried.

Many of the donated books have Lady Mary’s notes on the fly leaf, and the collection includes many travel and guidebooks:

Delhi : its stories and buildings by H. Sharp.  London : Oxford University Press, 1921. Archive A88
Handbook for travellers in India, Burma and Ceylon London : John Murray, 1924.  Archive A21
Guide to the Qutb, Delhi by J.A. Page.  Calcutta : Government of India, 1927. Archive A15
Visitors' handbook of Galle. Galle : Albion Press, [1930]  Archive A8
Guide to Ajanta frescoes 5th ed. Hyderabad-Deccan [India] : Archaeological Department H.E.H. The Nizam's Government, 1935. Archive A18
Guide to the ruins of Bassein by Braz A. Fernandes. Bombay : Bombay Historical Society, 1941. Archive A7

There is also a significant collection of books listing memorials which extend the information gathered by BACSA British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia and shelved in Archive MISC 11-138. They include :

List of pre-mutiny inscriptions in Christian burial grounds in the Patna district. Patna 1935. Archive A102
A record of the inscriptions at the Catholic Church at Patna, Bihar and Orissa. Archive A101
List of inscriptions on tombstones and monuments in Ceylon of historical or local interest. Colombo 1913. Archive A106
Inscriptions on Christian tombs or monuments in the Punjab. Lahore 1912. Archive A103
List of burials at Madras (in St. Mary's Cemetery) from 1851 to 1900. Archive A107
List of inscriptions on tombs or monuments in Bengal possessing historical or archaeological interest. Archive A98
List of Christian tombs and monuments of archaeological or historical interest and their inscriptions in the North-West Provinces and Oudh. Allahbad 1896. Archive A105

Chatterjee donation 

"The lady, king, and hiraman all reached the king's capital safe and sound"
Illustrator: Warwick Goble (Folk-tales of Bengal) Archive E 96,
Chatterjee donation

Sir Atul Chandra Chatterjee GCIE KCSI (24 November 1874 - 8 September 1955) was an Indian diplomat and government official who served as the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1925 to 1931 and was member of the governing body of the League of Nations Assembly in 1925 and 1946. In 1924 he married Dr Gladys Mary Broughton, OBE, sometime labour adviser to the Government of India, who was a barrister and served with the Indian Educational Service. Sir Atul Chatterjee died in London aged 80 in September 1955. His obituary in the Times stated that he was the inspirer and guide of many important reforms in factory and mining legislation. The Times obituary of May 1969 entitled Lady Chatterjee, Barrister and hostess noted that she gained a D.Sc for her thesis on “Women and Children in Indian Industry”

Some of the oldest books in the Archive collection come from the Chatterjee donation they include:

Translation of the Íshopanishad. Calcutta : Philip Pereira, 1816.   Archive E 107

Archive E 107

Translation of the Céna Upanishad : one of the chapters of the Sáma Véda, according to the gloss of the celebrated Shancaráchárya / by Rammohun Roy. Calcutta : Philip Pereira, 1816. Archive E 108
Koran : commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed, translated from the original Arabic. London : Printed for Geo. B. Whittaker, 1825.  Archive E 112
The New Testament in the Marathi Language. London : British and Foreign Bible Society, 1864 Archive E 111

The law books presented show signs of heavy use, with pencil annotations on the text and bookmarks and also the difficulties of balancing religious and civil obligations, titles include:

Hindu law as administered in British India. E..J.Trevelyan. 2^nd ed. Calcutta : Thacker, Spink & Co., 1917. Archive E 114
Questions and answers on Hindu and Mahommedan law by J. Chinna Durai . London : Stevens & sons, Limited, 1935.  Archive E 116
Treatise on Hindu law and usage, by John D. Mayne. 9^th ed. Madras : Higginbothams, 1922.  Archive E 122
Law of monopolies in British India by Prosanto Kumar Sen. Calcutta : Sircar, 1922. Archive E 124

There are publications reflecting the Chatterjees’ involvement in industrial, social and employment reforms including the published thesis Labour in Indian industries by G.M. Broughton. London : H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1924. Archive E 35
Women in modern India : fifteen papers by Indian women writers . Bombay : D.B. Taraporewala, 1929. Archive E 67
Child labour in India by Ranjani Kanta Das. Geneva : International Labour Office, 1934. Archive E 68
Woman labour in India by Ranjani Kanta Das. Geneva : International Labour Office, 1931.  Archive E 69
Famine Inquiry Commission : report on Bengal. New Delhi : Government of India Press, 1945.  Archive E 24

The donation also includes literature, including:

"Instead of sweetmeats about a score of demons" Illustrator: Warwick Goble (Folk-tales of Bengal) Archive E 96,
Chatterjee donation

Poems by Indian women. Calcutta : Association Press ; London : Oxford University Press, 1923. Archive E 91

One hundred poems of Kabir translated by Rabindranath Tagore.  London : Published by the India society, printed and sold at the Chiswick press, 1914. Archive E 93
and,
Folk-tales of Bengal. by Lal Behari Day ; with 32 illustrations in colour by Warwick Goble.  London : Macmillan, 1912. Archive E 96. 
Various illustrations from this work are featured in this blog.

Suzan Griffiths

Appendix

Searching by donor

There is a handlist of the Lloyd and Chatterjee books on the old site of the Centre of South Asian Studies webpage.
It is also possible to search by donor via the Newton Catalogue until the end of the year when Voyager will be replace by Alma. Searches across all libraries are carried out on iDiscover.

To search the holdings note field via Newton enter hkey donor name within a Boolean search

To search on iDiscover select Advanced Search, then South Asian Studies from the drop down menu, then search Classmark contains Archive and the letter for the donor ie E for Chatterjee