Aloys Sprenger

Who was Aloys Sprenger?

Aloys Sprenger was an Austrian orientalist.

Sprenger studied medicine, natural sciences as well as oriental languages at the University of Vienna. In 1836 he moved to London, where he worked with the Earl of Munster on the latter's „Geschichte der Kriegswissenschaften bei den mohammedanischen Völkern“, ‘History of Military Science among the Muslim Peoples’, and thence in 1843 to Calcutta, where he became principal of Delhi College. In this capacity he had many textbooks translated into Hindustani from European languages.

In 1848 he was sent to Lucknow, to prepare a catalogue of the royal library there, the first volume of which appeared in Calcutta in 1854. This book, with its lists of Persian poets, its careful description of all the chief works of Persian poetry and its valuable biographical material, became a worthy guide for the exploration of Persian literature.

In 1850 Sprenger was named examiner, official government interpreter, and secretary of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta.