KORÖSI, SçNDOR (ALEXANDER) CSOMA DE: - A Grammar of the Tibetan Language in English. Prepared, under the patronage of the government and the auspices of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Calcutta, Printed at the Baptist Mission Press, 1834.

. 4to. Pp. xii, 204, one blank, pp. 40 with lithographed syllabic plates. The plates are numbered 1-40 but no. 15 is blank, as issued! (However we have found a library copy which has no.15 containing characters). Late 19th century half calf, spine ruled in black and with title lettered in gilt, rubbed. Front joint weakened. Marbled endpapers. Private exlibris label on front paste down (Dr. Wolfgang E. Scharlipp). Traces of front paper wrapper on inner margin of half title. Some minor browning.First edition of the first Tibetan grammar in English. Csoma de Korös (or Alexander Csoma of Koros) was a Hungarian orientalist who was known to be literate in more than ten languages. Considered the founder of Tibetology, he was one of the first Europeans to learn Tibetan. In 1819 he travelled to the East to find the old Hungarian homeland somewhere in Central Asia. But during the journey he received a book on Tibet and decided to stay in Leh and learn Tibetan. During his three trips to Tibet, he perfected the language in various monasteries with the help of local monks. He died in Darjeeling while attempting a journey to Lhasa in 1842 and a memorial was erected in his honour by the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Rare. Cordier BS 2930. Yakushi (1984) C160. Vater p. 400. Not in Löwendahl.

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