Tag Archives: Publication

Letters regarding the early years of the PIAC

Dear Reader,

One of the founding fathers of the PIAC, Prof. Walther Heissig (1913–2015), was not only a pioneer of Central Asian Studies in Germany, an outstanding scholar of Mongolian studies, and a prolific writer. He also maintained close and personal ties with many of the eminent Central Asian scholars of his time, among them György Kara, Herbert Franke and György Hazai, to name just a few.

As first Secretary General of the PIAC,  he also entertained communications, many of them with Denis Sinor. The letters also reflect the administrative burdens of organizing PIAC meetings, especially given the fact that travel (and obtaining permission to participate in conferences abroad) was by far not as convenient as today.

From Prof. Heissig’s estate, more than 70 letters and other documents relating to the early years of the PIAC, hitherto unpublished, are edited by H. Walravens as:

Briefwechsel mit György Kara, Herbert Franke, György Hazai und Alice Sárközi sowie aus den Anfängen der Altaistenkonferenz (PIAC) Katalog mongolischer Blockdrucke in London. Paperback, 220 pages. ISBN-13: 9783739218830. Publisher: Books on Demand, June 4th, 2019.

Oliver Corff, September 2nd, 2019.

The Collected Works of Hidehiro Okada, Vol. VIII

Dear Reader,

It is the editor’s distinguished pleasure to announce that the VIIIth volume of The Collected Works by Prof. Hidehiro Okada is now available. Published by Fujiwara-shoten (ISBN: 978-4-86578-076-5)  in Japan, this volume is in great part dedicated to the PIAC. Its title reads (in Japanese and English): Sixty Years in Eurasian Studies of the World. The title illustration shows the original PIAC medal (Indiana University Prize for Altaic Studies) which Prof. Okada was awarded in 1999. Prof. Okada was also the President of the 38th Annual Meeting held in Kawasaki, Japan, in 1995.

This volume deserves a dedicated announcement as Prof. Okada participated in his first annual meeting of the PIAC more than 50 years ago, as early as 1964 at the age of 33. The first part of this volume, approx. 200 pages, contains 16 detailed reports of PIAC meetings between 1964 and 1998 he participated in. It should be mentioned that Prof. Okada continued to participate in PIAC meetings even after 1998.

One further information is worth sharing here. The book couldn’t be more up to date as even the 59th Meeting which took place in Turkey in June/July 2016 is mentioned in the introduction.

Oliver Corff.