THF initiates dialog with British Library

British Library has displayed some of its rare collection of Tamil books to a team of Diaspora Tamil who visited the Library on Febuary 13, 2003. Tamil Heritage Foundation (Germany) has organized this meeting. Mrs.Nalini Persad had ordered books that were part of a selection by THF and of her own selection. Mr.Graham Shaw, Director - Asian and African Collection, British Library mentioned during his introduction that this collection was possible largely due to the request of English scholars to the then British Raj. He regreted that the collection was not complete and news papers and publications were not included. He mentioned that they don't hold the first ever printed book in Indian languages, a Tamil translation of Bible. However, their rare collection includes several important Tamil manuscripts and books that amounts to several thousands.

Dr.N.Kannan explains to Mr.Graham Shaw, Mrs.Nalini Persad and to others how THF could participate in the e-preservation of Tamil books from British Library

Mrs.Persad impressed the visitors through her selections that included hand written manuscript of Veeramaamunivar and that of Nannool (a grammer treatise) and a whole range of books that were published in the 19th century and early 20th century

Mr.Michael O'Keefe of British Library was in praise of visitors who paid total attention to the rare collections.

The visiting team immersed in the collection

Coffee break

A section of the participants

Another section

The books and manuscripts under display (examples)