Anton Schiefner (1817–1879). Briefe und Schriftenverzeichnis

The noted linguist Anton Schiefner (1817–1879), a native of Reval (nowadays Tallinn), occupies a special position in the history of scholarship on account of his versatility, his rich knowledge, his many publications and his extensive network. By training a classical philologist and a lawyer, he subsequently became an Indologist and Finno-Ugrian expert while as a Petersburg academician he was responsible for Tibetology, and was additionally commissioned to translate and edit the works of late, prematurely deceased Finnish explorer and ethnographer Castrén as well as Baron von Uslar’s research on the Caucasian languages. Schiefner’s letters offer a vivid picture of the progress of linguistics and humaniora for a span of almost 30 years. Projects, new publications, young scholars, study trips, also personal information and news on the situation in the Baltic provinces and St. Petersburg are the main topics. Individual focuses of the present volume are connected with the special interests of the addressees – as Calmuck literature (Jülg), library matters and (natural) science (Baer), folklore and motif research (Köhler), cultural history (Hehn), the relationship of languages and also the gipsy language (Pott), Indology and mythology (Kuhn), the “Ofenic” language [argot of peddlars] (Diefenbach), onomastics (Förstemann) and library administration (Dziatzko). The letters are extensively annotated and made accessible by an index of names. A completely revised list of Schiefner’s publications forms the introduction as the editorial work yielded much new material and allowed correction of previous data. With portraits and index.