Leitner (to G. Zeller)

[Gabriele Zeller]

Thanks to all who answered to my question about Leitner, especially 
to Ruth Laila Schmidt and Klaus Karttunen. The information in
the book Ruth named:  'The Gilgit Game: Explorers of the Western 
Himalayas 1865-95 by John Keay. London, 1979 are interesting and 
Klaus too should look into it to supplement the one or other point 
of his biographical sketch. Thus, Leitner must have converterted that 
house in Woking already in 1884 into the Oriental Institute. Stein 
lived there for about 4 weeks in 1884 and describes it and his few 
inhabitants in a letter to Roth. The whole idea was looked upon a 
failure, as Rost suggests in a letter to Roth. 
Klaus, if you like Stein's description for your collection I can send 
it as attachment to an email message. His letters I have already in 
my computer.
So long
Gabriele

As I suppose this might be interesting to others, too, I send it 
through the list.

(...)
LEITNER, Gottlieb Wilhelm. Pest 14.10.1840 - Bonn 22.3.1899. Hungarian 
Indologist in the U.K. and India. Professor in Lahore. Son of a 
physician, moved in 1847 to Constantinople, educated there and in 
London. In the age of 15 he served as interpreter to the British in the 
Crimean war. From 1859 Lecturer in Arabic, Turcic and Modern Greek at 
King's College in London, from 1861 Professor of Arabic and Mohammadan 
Law ibid. Ph.D. 1862 Freiburg (Breisgau or Switzerland?). In 1864 
"borrowed" to India (keeping his London chair) to assist in the 
foundation of Lahore University, in 1864-84 served as Director of the 
Government Oriental College and Registrar of the University there. In 
1866-67 travelled in Kashmir, Ladakh and Dardistan on behalf of Panjab 
government. In 1887 retired from India and became the Director of Royal 
Dramatic College in Woking, which he turned into an Oriental Institute.
GWL was the founder of Dardic philology and the first to study and 
describe several new languages found during his field tour. He was also 
interested in Buddhist antiquities and the Gandharan art.
Publications: Results of a Tour in Dardistan, Kashmir, Little Tibet, 
Ladak. 1-5. 1866-71 (perhaps same as the next).
- The Races and Languages of Dardistan. 1-3. 1867-71, 2nd ed. 1877.
- The People and Language of Hunza. 18??.
- further articles and books on Indology, Arabic and Turkish.
Sources: Das Gelehrte Ungarn; O.B.L. 5; Buckland, Dictionary; not in 
Magy. Eletr. lex.; a defective bibliography in Bollettini del quarto 
Congresso intern. degli Orientalisti. Firenze 1878, 24-26.
(Diacritics have been removed for e-mail. I have not yet had time to 
check his publications from the N.U.Catalogue and the B.L.Catalogue)



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Dr Gabriele Zeller
Universitaetsbibliothek Tuebingen
Wilhelmstr. 32
72016 Tuebingen
Tel:+49-7071-2974030
Fax:+49-7071-293123

http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/ub
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