xx,xii APPENDIX. 



The Committee have great pleasure in informing the Subscribers that they received 

 from Lord William Bentinck, Governor General of India, before his Lordship's de- 

 parture, the most gratifying assurances of his Lordship's intention. to forward their 

 views, to the utmost extent of his power, on his arrival at Calcutta. 



Although zeal and efficiency may be confidently expected from all the Committees in 

 Asia, it is impossible not to contemplate with peculiar satisfiction the auspices under 

 which the Corresponding Committee will be formed at Bomba}'. 



Few gentlemen occupying stations of authority and influence possess such means of 

 effectively assisting tlie Committee as Sir John Malcolm, whose Oriental learning, and 

 activity in the promotion of knowledge, are brilliant examples for every person, not 

 only under his own, but also under every other Indian Government, to endeavour to 

 imitate. 



The attention that the Prospectus and letters will excite in India must, in the opinion 

 of the Committee, create a desire for improvement in the Oriental languages among the 

 junior Civil and Military Officers residing there; and it will be the duty of the Corres- 

 ponding Committees, to foster that feeling, and transmit to Europe its beneficial results. 



After preparing instructions for their Corresponding Committees, the Committee pre- 

 pared a few regulations for their own government These regulations will be submitted 

 to you this day for antendment ; or, if approved, for confirmation. 



The Committee hope that tbe latitude they have proposed for themselves will only be 

 considered an evidence of their extensive hopes and views, and that the Subscribers, in 

 •"•iving these regulations their sanction, will leave the Committee unshackled, at least for 

 tiie first year, that they m.ay have the means of ascertaining their power to accomplish 

 the objects for which they were appointed. 



Although most of these regulations have been formed on the basis of the original 

 Prospectus, alterations iuive been suggested, which it was thought would add considera- 

 bly to the usefulness and the pecuniary means of the Society: — these are the creation of 

 a second class of subscribers, and the sale of a certain number of each of the works 

 printed at the expense of the Oriental Translation Fund. 



As the Subscribers of Ten guineas each are entitled gratuitously to a fine-paper copy 

 of every work published by the Committee, it is proposed that an annual subscriber of 

 five guineas shall be entitled to any of the works jjublished by the Committee, to the 

 extent of subscription, at half the price paid for them by the public ; but without having 

 his name printed on the back of the title-page, that distinction being reserved for the 

 first class of Subscribers. 



In relation to the second proposal, it is calculated that the difference of expense 

 between an edition of 250 and 500 copies of any book is only about 7 per cent, exclusive 

 of paper: printing the latter number instead of the former, and selling the copies that 

 remained on hand after the Subscribers are furnished with those to which they are 

 entitled, would therefore defray a considerable part of the expense of printing any 

 translation, and thus enable the Committee to print additional works. The following 

 particulars are added, to shew the advantage of printing some copies for sale of such 

 works as the Committee may publish. An edition of 250 copies of a Persian and 

 English work of 450 octavo pages would cost £125, or 10s. per copy ; but the second 250 

 copies might be obtained for £35, or about 2.s. lOd. per copy. If the second 250 copies 

 were gradually sold at only 10s. each, the whole expense of printing the work would be 

 ultimately repaid, with the exception of £35, for whith sum 250 copies would be ob- 

 tained by the Subscribers. 



This calculation is founded on the supposition that none but really interesting works 

 will be printed, and that there will consequently be a demand for them in England, 

 on the Continent, and among Europeans in Asia. It is also confidently expected that 

 many copies will be bought by learned natives of India, who may be either desirous of 

 learning English or of possessing texts of standard Oriental works, free from the errors 

 which often abound in manuscript copies. 



