SOAS Special Collections

Archives, manuscripts and rare books from @SOASLibrary, the UK National Research Library for Asia, Africa and the Middle East | [email protected]

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

We're proud to share our new video giving an overview of SOAS Special Collections and the services we offer - have a look! https://t.co/r4zxPCnit3

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

Marie Blanche Head’s documentation of Chin‑Kuki‑Mizo (Zomi) folk‑lore offers an important contribution to the study of Tibeto‑Burman cultural heritage in the Chin Hills of Burma (Myanmar). #EYAFolklore https://t.co/B3UtNhzYwL

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

Hausa folk-lore, customs, proverbs, etc. collected and transliterated with English translation and note, 1913. #EYAFolklore https://t.co/HJdNQNglce

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

Indo-Chinese gleaner; containing miscellaneous communications on the literature, history, philosophy, mythology, &c. of the Indo-Chinese nations, 1820. From the library of Robert Morrison #EYAFolklore https://t.co/EU4NMt9WTe

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

वृन्दावन शोध संस्थान में सांस्कृतिक वस्तुएँ: सचित्र पांडुलिपियाँ; Illustration showing Arjuna, Bhīṣma and Kṛṣṇa from a manuscript of Viṣṇusahasranāmastotra #EYAFolklore https://t.co/pSt7AO6yxw

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

Madupurekavi. A Sinhalese ballad on a legend of the healing of a Ṣēramān-rāja' s headache through worship of the goddess Pattini with dances and sacrifices. Written on palm-leaves. #EYAFolklore https://t.co/ciE2k9qMM8

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

In celebration of #WorldAnimalDay we want to share these cute monkeys by Kitao Masayoshi from his 1813 drawing manual Chōjū ryakugashiki https://t.co/G1r0wWyAea

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

Mohammed's winged mare (buraq) from Paintings illustrating Turkish costumes (MS 60368), late C18th. #EYAFolklore

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

A #EYASurprise in Persian poetry ms 46453 is a snake skin! It came to London in the 1920s via St Petersburg. We think it may have been used to ward off pests and rodents from eating the manuscript.

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

The Chōsen shisetsu gyōretsu zukan handscroll painting shows a procession of Korean Ambassadors on a visit to Japan in 1655. It is over 12 metres long! #EYASurprise https://t.co/Fey97vwWgB

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

One of the more unusual items in our collections is a lock of hair belonging to James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission! #EYASurprise

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

Example of mail art by Hassan Musa. These small-scale works are sent through the regular mail as “free art” to surprise friends and all persons who glimpse at them along the way and afterwards #EYASurprise #https://archives.soas.ac.uk/records/MS_381333

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

A view of Mount Fuji from under Mannen Bridge by Hokusai Katsushika, c. 1830 #EYAArchitecture https://t.co/dimm8x2inL

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

Chinese post office at Nanning photographed early C20th by Reginald Follett Codrington Hedgeland, officer in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. #EYAArchitecture https://t.co/SarxWPZWT9

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

Nyatapol temple is one of the few traditional buildings in Bhaktapur that survived the 2015 earthquake intact. Photo by cIRcle, Uni of British Columbia Library, 2018 as part of a project to document the aftermath of the earthquake. #EYAArchitecture

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

Photograph of the Augustus Bridge and Dresden cathedral, Dresden, Germany taken by tea merchant, John C Oswald in 1887. #EYAArchitecture

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Hong Kong. Photograph taken by Herny Rue c. 1910-1913 #EYAArchitecture #https://digital.soas.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/r.c.-cathedral-hong-kong/204650

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

Plans for the new Philips building on the main campus of SOAS, to house the library, offices, teaching rooms, sports facilities, and other dedicated spaces. Read more here about a recent project to catalogue these: https://t.co/uqDvshwfZC #EYAArchitecture

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

Plans by W. Deans Cowan showing front view and pulpit of church at Ambalavao, pulpit of church at Antranobrika, pulpit of church at Ivohidahy. A note on reverse of plan reads "The roofs are at present thatch, but we hope to have tiles. The walls are brick." #EYAArchitecture

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

This photograph, taken by Christoph von Fürer-Haimendorf, probably of the town of Cochin, shows an interesting mixture of architectural styles. The conical roof of the early Kerala temple is set against the tower of a colonial building and other roof tops. #EYAArchitecture

[SOAS Special Collections @SOAS_SpecColl]

Kuruma-ebi (prawns) and Aji (horse mackerel, Trachurus japonicus, Caranx trachurus), from the first series of fish published by Eijudo, c.mid 1830′s, with a poem by Toshinoya Tomiharu. #EYAColourful https://t.co/qAeISObgpS