The Lost Papers of Thomas Manning

Thomas Manning (1772-1840) was one of Britain’s first scholars of Chinese language and culture. He was also the first British person to enter Lhasa and meet the Dalai Lama. This archive charts his attempts to visit China, his trip to Tibet and studies of Chinese language and culture. This archive consists of over 400 letters to and from Manning, papers, diaries and notebooks. It also includes the manuscript of Narrative of the Journey of Thomas Manning to Lhasa, which was published posthumously in 1876.