Description
Autograph Letter Signed, to Dr. J.Forbes Royle, the naturalist, accepting an invitation, despite a severe cold. 3 pp. 4.5 x 3.5 inches, in good condition. 8 Alfred Street, 28 October 1844. Duncan Forbes (1798-1868), orientalist, author of A New Persian Grammar (1828). In 1823 he took a post at Calcutta Academy, but because of poor health he was forced to return to Europe in 1826. In 1837 he became Professor of Oriental Languages at King’s College London and stayed at this post until his retirement in 1861. During his time at King’s College London he also worked at the British Museum, cataloguing the collection of Persian manuscripts. During his life he wrote a number of books, and it is for these which he is most remembered. He had a hand in translating or editing a number of books in Urdu, Persian and Arabic, including a translation of Mir Amman’s Urdu Bagh o Bahar, or Tales of the Four Darweshes, (which is itself a translation from the Persian of Amir Khusro), and of the Persian Adventures of Hatim Tai. Also: A grammar of the Arabic language: intended more especially for the use of young men preparing for the East India Civil Service, and also for the use of self-instructing students in general (various editions).