Book Reviews

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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REVIEWS
NOTE
On this text see Leonard Zwilling, 'The Visesastava of Udbhattasiddhasvamin', Studies in Pāli and Buddhism (Delhi, 1979), pp. 407-414.
Australian National University
J. W. DE JONE
Hartmut Walravens (ed.), Kleinere Schriften von Berthold Laufer. Teil 3: Nachträge und Briefwechsel (Sinologica Coloniensia, Band 13). Stuttgart, Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH, 1985. VII + 500 pp. DM 145,
Part three of Laufer's Kleinere Schriften contains a catalogue of Laufer's Phonographic recordings from China (made in 1901 and 1902) and from Tibet and Bengal, facsimiles of the Chinese texts, and studies of the Tibetan and Bengal texts by Christoph Cüppers (pp. 111-135) and Rahul Peter Das (pp. 136-139) respectively. The major part of this volume consists of letters from Laufer and to Laufer from the archives of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago (pp. 141-500).
In an editorial note, Hartmut Walravens explains that those of Laufer's papers for the years 1911-1924 not included in Part Two (cf. IIJ 24, pp. 68-69) will be published by Dr. Lokesh Chandra, and that the texts for the years 1925-1934 will be published in microform by C. Bell Publishers (P.O. Box 700 221, 2 Hamburg 70, W. Germany). The next volume (3.2) will contain an index of Laufer's publications included in the three parts of the Kleinere Schriften as well as those to be published by Dr. Lokesh Chandra and by C. Bell Publishers.
Laufer's manifold interests are reflected in his correspondence with scholars, art-dealers, etc. Apart from a number of letters from W. Grube written in the years 1895-1897, almost all letters date from the period 1913-1933. One of the most interesting letters is undoubtedly the one written by Pelliot (No. 249) in which he claims the right to point out errors:
Mon seul intérêt et mon seul souci, dans la vie scientifique, est le progrès de nos études qui ne peut s'obtenir que par des notions de plus en plus précises et exactes. Nous nous trompons tous, moi comme les autres, et je n'ai jamais hésité à me rectifier.... la science est faite de précisions, et, quand nous avons fait un effort loyal pour les atteindre, il n'y a pas de honte à nous être trompés et que quelqu'un nous le dise.
It is a pity that we do not have Laufer's answer, but the fact that Pelliot wrote again a few months later shows that his frank and generous letter seems to have restored good relations.
Indo-Iranian Journal 30 (1987).