William Woodville Rockhill

The author, William Woodville Rockhill, (1854-1914) was a scholar-diplomat, linguist, ethnologist and Tibetan expert who was the first American to speak, read and write Tibetan, and the first to explore the Tibetan highlands, where he travelled extensively. Later American Minister to China, he was an authority on Buddhism and a friend of the thirteenth Dalai Lama. His collection of Tibetan manuscripts, including those consulted for this volume, became the core of the Tibetan holdings in the...See more

The author, William Woodville Rockhill, (1854-1914) was a scholar-diplomat, linguist, ethnologist and Tibetan expert who was the first American to speak, read and write Tibetan, and the first to explore the Tibetan highlands, where he travelled extensively. Later American Minister to China, he was an authority on Buddhism and a friend of the thirteenth Dalai Lama. His collection of Tibetan manuscripts, including those consulted for this volume, became the core of the Tibetan holdings in the Library of Congress. See less