ASSISTANT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ORIENTAL PRINTED BOOKS AND MSS.; PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON; PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. London: SOLD AT THE BRITISH MUSEUM, AND BY MESSRS. LONGMANS & CO., 39, PATERNOSTER ROW; B. QUARITCH, 15, PICCADILLY, W.; A. ASHER & CO., 1893. Nijhoff 1-2-30 19780 THIS Catalogue of the Sanskrit, Pali, and Prakrit books in the British Museum has been compiled by Professor Bendall, Senior Assistant in the Department of Oriental Printed Books and MSS. It is supplementary to that made by the late Dr. E. Haas, and is arranged on the principles laid down by that scholar in his introductory remarks to the earlier work, with some modifications which are fully explained in the Preface to the present volume. BRITISH MUSEUM, ROBERT K. DOUGLAS, KEEPER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ORIENTAL PRINTED BOOKS AND MSS. PREFACE. As the present work forms a supplement to the "Catalogue of Sanskrit and Pali Books in the British Museum," by the late Dr. E. Haas, it will be useful to make some observations as to new features introduced, including points of departure from the principles laid down in the preface of that work. First, as to the scope of the work. The term "Prakrit " has been added to the title of the present volume because the publications in Prakrit have very considerably increased since the date of Dr. Haas's Catalogue. This has been (as may be seen from our Select Subject Index) mainly owing to the literary activity of the Svetambara Jain sect. I may here note that Jain works are catalogued under the Sanskrit titles authorized by tradition, though the corresponding Prakrit forms are also given in the Index of Titles. The Subject-Index just referred to forms a second new feature of the present work, and is similar to those which have been found useful in the catalogues of several Indian vernaculars. In view of the comparatively greater number of handbooks available for students of Sanskrit, no attempt has been made to render this Index exhaustive; but it is hoped that it will prove useful to students, as well as to the compilers of chrestomathies and other educational works. Referring to Dr. Haas's remarks on the scope of his Catalogue (p. iv.), it may be here stated that an endeavour has now been made to supply references to texts published in the Journals of learned societies, which were there omitted. A complete list of the translations of the Bible into Sanskrit and Pali has also been added. In order to explain the mode of transcription, as well as to afford a ready means of reference for the very numerous alphabets used in printing Sanskrit works, a table of transliteration has been added. No serious discrepancies will be found between this and the system adopted by Dr. Haas; but the experience gained by the publication of catalogues of other Indian literatures has shown that some few fresh signs* were desirable. Especially in the distinction of the various nasals, and the substitution of the mark usually employed to express prosodial length for the sign identified with accentuation (e.g. a, not ú, for I). Scope. (Haas, p. iv.) Transliteration, (Haas, p. v.) |