É. Apor , H. Wang (ed.): Catalogue of the Collections of Sir Aurel Stein in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Comp. by John Falconer, Ágnes Kárteszi, Ágnes Kelecsényi, Lilla Russell-Smith.

Editors' Preface

EDITORS' PREFACE This volume is the result of a three year project to catalogue the collections of Sir Aurel Stein in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The project was bom out of professional respect and friendly curiosity. It was well known that the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences held collections relating to Sir Aurel Stein, but there was little indication of the scope of these collections. This was also true to some extent in England, until the publication of Helen Wang's Handbook to the Stein Collections in the UK (British Museum Occasional Paper, 1999). Keen to make the information in the Handbook as widely available as possible, Helen sent a copy to Éva Apor, whom she knew as the editor of the reprint of Stein's Old Routes of Western Iran, published by the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1994, a copy of which she had sent to the British Museum. The present project grew from these exchanges. Mrs Alojzia Domsa, Deputy Director-General of the Library, brought to Éva's attention the Hungarian-British Joint Academic and Research Programme. Sir Aurel Stein's work was of huge importance to both Hungary and the UK, and perhaps there might be a chance of international collaboration on the Stein collections? Thanks to Lilla Russell-Smith, who knew both Helen and Éva personally, we were able within two weeks to submit an application to the British Council Hungary and to the Hungarian Scholarship Board. We were delighted that they agreed to support our project. For the Hungarian side, this meant that old plans could at last be realised. Some time before, there had been plans to catalogue Stein's manuscripts, correspondence and documents, and the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund had made some funding available. But this would cover only a small part of the entire Stein collections. The further task of surveying and processing the enormous quantity of photographic material was way beyond reach. Now this seemingly insurmountable obstacle could be tackled, and there would be additional support for the existing plans. We succeeded in assembling a superb team. On the Hungarian side were the Indologist Agnes Kelecsényi, and the bibliographer Ágnes Kárteszi, who catalogued the manuscripts, correspondence and documents, under the guidance of the Iranist 9