Handbook to the collections of Sir Aurel Stein in the UK

[robot_mel]

This was mostly a reference book that really shouldn't be read cover to cover but I am so obsessed with Dunhuang and Aurel Stein that I actually did go through the whole thing. It was fascinating to see which museums, libraries and archives had material belonging to him and how it ended up there. It was a little insight into museum and library cataloguing as well as into the history of the man and his exhibitions. The most interesting thing I learned was that the British Museum has over 4000 Chinese coins from Han-Qing dynasties. There was also a lovely obituary, and a incredibly complete bibliography of all his works and all works about him. And of course mention of the International Dunhuang Project, possibly my favourite thing in the world. It is now available free online through the British Library and is a great resource.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/Stein%20Handbook%20final(131108)a.pdf