Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 19th c. (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
2 boxes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Author of A historical view of the Hindu astronomy : from the earliest dawn of that science in India to the present time. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1825. Formed a collection of Sanskrit manuscripts which passed to Dr Mill, and eventually passed to Trinity College Library, and catalogued by Th. Aufrecht as A Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge. Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, & Co. and London: Bell & Daldy, 1869.
Repository
Archival history
Bentley's papers and collection of Sanskrit manuscripts passed to William Hodge Mill on his death.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Acquired from William Hodge Mill's executors in 1858.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Notes, manuscripts, and printed material related to astronomy and John Bentley's work on Hindu astronomy.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
See also: the Trinity College Library copy of XIII. On the antiquity of the Suryá Siddhánta, and the formation of the astronomical cycles therein contained [London, 1801], which has 39 pp. of notes by Bentley bound in at the back of the volume, consisting of astronomical tables and a section on Chinese astronomy, shelf mark Adv.b.1.8.
O.11.a.2/37-42: Documents relating to Trinity's acquisition of the manuscripts in 1858, an MS draft of a plate from Bentley's Historical View of the Hindu Astronomy...., and a Sanskrit [?] fragment.
The Sanskrit MSS in the collection now have the shelfmarks R.15.60-R.15.146, see the catalogue by Aufrecht, below, for further details.
Publication note
John Bentley's collection of Sanskrit manuscripts, which were acquired by Trinity College Library, were catalogued by Theodor Aufrecht as A Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge. Cambridge and London, 1869.