BnF Ariel collection

Édouard-Simon Ariel (1818–1854) was a colonial administrator who was posted to Pondicherry in 1844. His unique collection of manuscripts, mostly Tamil, collected between 1844 and 1854, was bequeathed to the Société asiatique in Paris after his death. In 1866, the Société Asiatique transfered most of the Ariel manuscripts to the then Bibliothèque nationale. For more information on Ariel and his manuscript collection, see Francis & Trento 2022a and Francis & Trento 2022b. ― The first column "old shelfmark" refers to the first number inscribed in chalk or pencil on the woodcovers fabricated at the BnF for the Ariel manuscripts. ― The second column "old shelfmark" refers to the shelfmark (a letter and a number) found inscribed in black ink on the additional title-pages of Ariel manuscripts. This letter + number shelfmark probably represents Ariel’s own referencing system for the manuscripts of his collection.