A brief presentation of the main South Asia collections in French

libraries

Dr. Rachel GUIDONI (Mrs.), Head Librarian,

French School of Asian Studies (Paris, France)

The first French School dedicated to Eastern

languages and civilisations

Source: www.inalco.fr/institut/presentation-politique-institut/histoire-riche

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The school today

Source: www.archi-guide.com/PH/FRA/Par/P13MasPolLangCivLi.jpg

The building was inaugurated in 2011.

The upper part of the building houses the school

The lower part is for the library.

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The Collège de France, founded in 1530

Source: www.cartophilie-viroflay.org/article.php?id_article=165

The motto of the institution :« Teaches all »

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The main French libraries with South Asia collections• National library of France (Bibliothèque nationale)

• French School of Asian studies (Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient)

• Asian society (Société Asiatique)

• Centre for South Asian studies (Centre d’études de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud)

• Éric-de-Dampierre library

• Centre for Himalayan studies (Centre d’études himalayennes)

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Location of the main Paris libraries with South Asian

collections

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Why this presentation?

• Improve the knowledge of these collections

• Value these collections both to the Indian scientific community and to the librarians’ network

• Create tighter connection between French institutions and Indian libraries

• Promote a broader choice of patrimonial and contemporary collections on South Asia

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The BULAC library

• Core collection: linguistics, literature, travels accounts, geography and history, social and religious sciences

• South Asia section : rich collections in Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, and Urdu languages

• Digital library: a dozen of books from the Fort William College

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A book from the Fort William College

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Polyglott Munshi, or vocabulary, exercises, pleasant stories, etc. in English, Persian, Hindi, Hindustani and Bengali, for the use of students both native and European, Calcutta, 1841

Source: num.bulac.fr/archive/files/a36d5a9d310503b

7c2280d568019a0e0.pdf

The South Asia collection in the Bulac library

• Hindi (and Nepali) section: more than 7 000 books

• Bengali section: 6 000 books and a dozen of periodicals

• Urdu section: 8 000 books and 40 periodicals

• Tamil section: more than 7 000 books and a collection of manuscripts

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A pioneer catalogue for the scripts

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Urdu

Tamil

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Hindi

Nepali

The Institute of Indian Studies

• Founded in 1927; part of the Collège de France since 1973

• Domain: the whole ancient Indian world, mostly Pre-Islamic India

• Subjects: literature, philosophy, history, history of religions, linguistics and grammar, art history and archaeology

→ one of the richest collections in France on Sanskrit literature and ancient Indian languages

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The Institute of Indian Studies

• Local catalogue: bude.college-de-france.fr

• Digital library: some manuscripts and pictures (salamandre.college-de-france.fr)

• Core collection: 35 000 books, 600 periodicals, 2 700 maps, more than 100 manuscripts, archives and about 35 000 pictures

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The Pakistan photo collection

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Source: salamandre.college-de-france.fr/ead.html?id=FR075CDF_00IEI00PK-2#!{%22content%22:[%22FR075CDF_00IEI00PK-2_de-901%22,false,%22%22]}

The Kabul museum photo collection

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Source: salamandre.college-de-france.fr/ead.html?id=FR075CDF_IEI_arbois#!{%22content%22:[%22FR075CDF_IEI_arbois_de-38%22,false,%22%22]}

A Nepali manuscript from the S. Lévi collection

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Devatāparipūrṇam, 19th Century, bookmark: MS-SL 69

Source: salamandre.college-de-france.fr/img-viewer/IEI-SL/MS-SL-69/viewer.html

The National Library of France

• South Asia section since the 18th century

• Subjects: literature, religion and history

• Core collection: 15 000 books, with 1/3 in Indian languages, more than 100 periodicals

• Online catalogue: catalogue.bnf.fr

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A bibliographical record with Devanagari script in the BnF

catalogue

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Source: catalogue.bnf.fr/servlet/biblio?idNoeud=1&ID=43715350&SN1=0&SN2=0&host=catalogue

A digitized document in Gallica

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Source: gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b6949524w.r=pondichery.langFR

The digitized catalogue of the Sanskrit collection at

the Bnf

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Source: gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k255707s/f80.image

The French School of Asian Studies

• Founded in 1901

• Core collection: 21 000 books, 133 periodicals, more than 120 Pali manuscripts, 100 maps, rubbings, scientific archives, about 17 000 pictures

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Mss Pali 40

The French School of Asian Studies

• Domain: all the South Asia, including also Tibet

• Subjects: mainly classical studies: religion, art, archaeology, epigraphy, ancient history, literature and textual studies

• Online catalogue: www.sudoc.abes.fr and catalogue.bulac.fr

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The French School of Asian Studies

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Bouddha Sakyamuni

(D71-8)

A Nepali (?) rubbing

The EFEO Centre in Pondicherry

• 12 000 books, 21 periodicals, a great collection of private libraries, scientific archives of French Indianists, rubbings and plans

25Photo S. Rayapoulle

The EFEO Centre in Pondicherry

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• More than 1 600 Vishnuit manuscripts, digitized and soon available online

• A photo library with old collections and a more recent collection on South Asian temples, soon available online

Photo S. Rayapoulle

Library of the Asian society

• Founded in 1822

• Edits the famous periodical Journal Asiatique

• Core collection: 100 000 books, 1 800 periodicals, manuscripts, rubbings and off-prints, pictures and scientific archives. 20% concerns India

27Source: www.aibl.fr/societe-asiatique/organisation-68/organismes-associes

Centre for South Asian studies

• Founded in 1955

• Presently the biggest French collection of books and periodicals on South Asia for the modern and contemporary periods

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The Maison de l’Asie’s reading room

Centre for South Asian studies

• Core collection: 30 000 books, 450 periodicals, scientific archives, census, maps

• Domain: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives Islands, and Mauritius

• Subjects: social sciences, social anthropology, law, history of economic development, and religious sciences

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Éric-de-Dampierre library

• Founded in 1967

• Specialised in anthropology and sociology

• 2 600 books on South Asia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives Islands, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma, and Tibet

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Source: www.mae.u-paris10.fr/bibethno/

Entry of the reading room

The archives of Philippe Sagant

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One of his bookTable of

his archives

The archives of O. Herrenschmidt

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Source: www.mae.u-paris10.fr/dbtw-wpd/arch/ar.aspx?archive=lesc&reference=foh

Source: www.mae.u-paris10.fr/lesc/spip.php?article78

Centre for Himalayan studies

• Founded in 1965

• First focused on Nepal and on anthropology, geography and biology

33Photo O. Aubriot

Centre for Himalayan studies

• Covers now all the other Himalayas regions: Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim and the North Indian States

• And includes other subjects such as geology, environmental studies, agronomy, history, economics, politics, languages, arts

• 15 000 books, theses, reports and off-prints, 1 300 maps and 800 periodicals

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Thank you for your attention!Merci beaucoup !

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