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 AND THE LIBRARY OF THE HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES Ágnes Kelecsényi There are few tasks in this world more difficult and more fascinating than the exploration of Central-Asia, and in the last century more than one prominent Hungarian was attracted towards that distant region. The intricacies of the Tibetan language drew Csorna de Kőrös to the confines of Tibet and the excitements of political enterprise carried Arminius Vámbéry through the Khanates of Turkestan. In these latter days a culture more catholic than that of Csoma and an enthusiasm more scholarly than that of Vámbéry have led another Hungarian, Marc Aurel Stein, to penetrate the further recesses of the mysterious tracts which occupy the centre of Asia.' These three eminent Hungarian explorers, Alexander Csoma de Kőrös (17841842), Arminius Vámbéry (1832-1913) and Aurel Stein (1862-1943), share the further honour of having their libraries, together with other notable Hungarian orientalists, placed in the Oriental Collection of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The Tibetan manuscripts and blockprints, correspondence and associated documents of Csoma de Kőrös, the founder of Tibetology, came to the Academy in 1885 as a result of the research work by his first biographer, Theodore Duka, himself a medical colonel in the Indian Army. Arminius Vámbéry's library was donated to the Library by his son, Rusztem Vámbéry in 1916. Sir Aurel Stein, the most prominent archaeological explorer in Asia in the twentieth century, is one of the most distinguished contributors to the Library. He actively sought to expand the Library, and in his will arranged a bequest to benefit the Library. The bond between Sir Aurel Stein and the Academy had deep roots. His childhood home stood in the immediate vicinity of the Academy, and with an introduction from his uncle, the ophthalmologist, Professor Dr Ignác Hirschler, a Corresponding Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the young Aurel Stein was able to visit the Library while still at secondary school. He later wrote: 1 Sir Edward Maclagan, 'Sir Marc Aurel Stein', Hungarian Quarterly , 1938, vol.4, no.2, p.273. 13
