Queen Victoria’s copy of the first English language translation of the Vishnu Purana, one of the most important Hindu sacred texts.

Horace Hayman Wilson (1796-1860) was an English Indologist who first travelled to India as Assistant Surgeon to the East India Company. He devoted much time to the study of Indian languages, especially Sanskrit, and in 1811 became the Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. In 1832, Wilson left India when he was appointed the first Professors of Sanskrit at the University of Oxford. Four years later he took on the additional role of Librarian at East India House, London.