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.

KELECSÉNYI Ágnes: Sir Aurel Stein and the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

SIR AUREL STEIN specifications: 'I GIVE all my printed books (other than those selected as hereinafter provided) to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences at Budapest to be added to its Library in token of my grateful remembrance of the help I received from the latter as a student and of the encouragement which the Academy accorded me as one of its Members. I DIRECT that besides my book-plate a mark or label with a suitable Latin inscription showing that the books were bequeathed by me shall at the expense of my estate be placed in or upon each book before being sent to Budapest. I DIRECT that the cost of this and all costs connected with the transmission of the books shall be defrayed out of my estate.' The instructions may have been simple, but the actual transfer of this part of Stein's estate to Hungary was rather a complex undertaking. On the basis of documents dated between 1945 and 1957, we can now trace the history of the movement of the bequest.

1

0 In November 1945 the President of the Academy received notice about the bequest from the press attaché of the British Political Mission. Thereafter, Helen Mary Allen, one of the Trustees of Sir Aurel's estate and the widow of his great friend, Percy Stafford Allen contacted Gyula Moór, the President of the Academy: 'I am sending herewith a complete list of the books in Oxford, so that you may see what they are and mark any which you do not wish to have. Those that you would like will be sent you as soon as possible but I'm afraid it would not be very soon, especially as the validity of the will has not yet been established. P.S. There are also books in Kashmir which I hope to be able to arrange to come to you direct. There are of course long delays.' She received no reply to his letter, so sent the list again on 9 December 1946. This time her letter was answered by General Secretary Géza Voinovich, who wrote, on 29 January 1947: 'Your previous letter has been probably miscarried and so Mr. Moór could not reply you. What regards the bequest we need all the books and periodicals, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences suffering now under very hard conditions and we have not any hope to be able to buy foreign books in the nearer future. So the bequest of Sir Stein will be a very precious aid for the Hungarian research.' There was then a long break in the English-Hungarian correspondence relating to the Stein bequest. In the meantime, the Bodleian Library, Oxford, looked after the Stein bequest and kept the case under review. In 1947 the law firm, Warren Murton, which was providing legal representation, asked the Bodleian Library to accept for storage in the Bodleian Library those cases of books which were bequeathed by Sir Aurel Stein to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and were currently with the manuscripts Sir Aurel Stein had bequeathed to the Indian Institute. Both were awaiting 1

0 On the basis of the following documents: Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books, Library of the HAS (RAL 266/1945,40/1947); Archives of the HAS (3. President 78/1, 80/4 fonds); Bodleian Library, Correspondence relating to Sir Mark Aurel Stein's bequest of printed books to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. 17