Royal Asiatic Society: Journal

The Royal Asiatic Society has produced a Journal from the early years of its formation and continues to do so. This material covers the records made in the production, administration and distribution of the Journal.

The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland was founded by the eminent Sanskrit scholar Sir Henry Thomas Colebrooke on the 15th March 1823. It received its Royal Charter from King George IV on the 11th August 1824 'for the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encouragement of science, literature and the arts in relation to Asia'. It continues as a forum for those who are interested in the languages, cultures and history of Asia to meet and exchange ideas. The Society has published a printed serial publication since the 1820s. Publication continued uninterrupted throughout the two World Wars of the 20th Century. The present form of the journal is known as the JRAS Third Series; it is published in conjunction with Cambridge University Press and was begun in 1990. In 2001 the Journal went online although the Society continues to produce a paper edition.

The material was divided into series:

• RAS JOUR/1 Minutes of the Journal Editorial Board
• RAS JOUR/2 Internal Administrative Documents
• RAS JOUR/3 W.H. Allen and Company
• RAS JOUR/4 Stephen Austin and Sons, Ltd.
• RAS JOUR/5 Other Printers
• RAS JOUR/6 Cambridge University Press
• RAS JOUR/7 Reproduction and Distribution Agreements
• RAS JOUR/8 Author Copyright Agreements
• RAS JOUR/9 Transliteration Schemes
• RAS JOUR/10 Article Reprint Requests and Author Permissions
• RAS JOUR/11 19th Century Correspondence
• RAS JOUR/12 Administrative Correspondence
• RAS JOUR/13 Subscriptions
• RAS JOUR/14 Indexes
• RAS JOUR/15 Missing Volumes
• RAS JOUR/16 Articles
• RAS JOUR/17 Ephemera

Some of this material is closed due to confidentiality reason. Please contact the archivist for further information. Details can be found here. The archive is open on Tuesdays and Fridays 10-5, and Thursdays 2-5. Access is to any researcher without appointment but it will help if an appointment is made via phone or email. Please bring photo ID.

As part of the institutional records, they have always been part of the Society's possessions.

This material was catalogued by Nancy Charley, RAS Archivist, in 2022.

Digital photography (without flash) for research purposes may be permitted upon completion of a copyright declaration form, and with respect to current UK copyright law.

These form part of the institutional records of the Royal Asiatic Society.

This production of the Journal continues, so more records will be added as they become available to the archives.

Copies of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society form part of the Society's collections.