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They called him ‘Encyclopaedia Zeylanica’
By Richard Boyle
If the written word is a vital constituent of a nation's heritage, then the Herculean labours of one man in documenting the voluminous literature on Sri Lanka in Western languages from the 16th century to the present day warrants the acknowledgement of everyone in this country.

I allude, of course, to Sri Lanka's distinguished bibliographer, H. A. I. (Ian) Goonetileke, who died recently aged 81. His labours, spanning several decades, resulted in the publication in Switzerland of the 5-volume A Bibliography of Ceylon (1970-1983), undoubtedly the most important work in English literature pertaining to Sri Lanka, in much the same way as the Oxford English Dictionary is the most important work in the English language.

Even though several supplementary volumes remain unpublished, Ian's bibliography as it stands represents an astounding piece of scholarship. In an IT and team-driven age it is difficult to conceive how, single-handedly and without the aid of computers, the Internet and e-mail, Ian was able to complete such an enormous survey encompassing so many publications in such widely flung libraries.

Yet within the pages of these priceless volumes can be found the most obscure magazine articles, scientific papers, handbooks and catalogues on subjects relating to the island, as well as all the descriptive books, travelogues and autobiographies. In total there are no less than 11,630 entries, every one with scrupulous publication details and essential comments. All but a few hundred of the items were personally scrutinized by the compiler.

Achieving monumental tasks
Ian's accomplishment with the ABC (as he referred to his magnum opus) has been elucidated by A. Sivanandan, who wrote, "Merely to locate the material dispersed by four and a half centuries of colonial rule was itself a formidable undertaking. To record it thereafter in an organized, intelligible and coherent fashion with cross references and indexes, annotations and layout and, not the least, a subject classification predicated by the literature itself, is an achievement that attests not only to the author's bibliographical skill but to his knowledge and feel for his country."

The eminent librarian J.D.Pearson in his Foreword to the ABC places Ian's accomplishment in the context of Oriental bibliography. "With this publication," he declared, "Mr. Goonetileke enters the ranks of the greatest Orientalist bibliographers of all times, that super-league to which are admitted those of the calibre of Cordier, Chauvin and others whose bibliographical works remain the essential starting point for all research as well as the vade-mecum for the book-collector." As most writers and bibliophiles concerned with Sri Lanka will readily affirm, a perusal of the ABC has indeed become the initial step in any serious research. The classification system is such that a wide range of subjects and the details of the literature pertaining to them can be accessed with ease.

Bibliography, it has been said, is the most demanding of scholarly disciplines, although lexicographers would no doubt dispute this. Certainly both disciplines require similar traits, such as infinite patience, an intellectual intensity, a meticulous nature and a relish for the long haul. Ian was a rare person who possessed all of these in abundance. Pearson noted, "Few of us can hope to emulate the patience, endurance and serenity with which the compiler's Buddhist background have endowed him.

Ian appears to have had many of the attributes and pioneering spirit of James Murray, the first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, who started the monumental compilation in 1879 (it wasn't finished until 1927). Certainly both the bibliographer and lexicographer chose a similar system - slips of paper or card - to cope with the enormous amount of information. Ian's cards - actually file index cards - were sorted into long, thin boxes designed to contain them.

Most valuable contributions
Another major bibliography compiled by Ian was Robert Knox in the Kandyan Kingdom, 1660-1679: A Bio-Bibliographical Commentary (1975). He presented me with a copy of this work, with an inscription written in his miniscule hand. The inscription reads in part: "I consider Knox in the Kandyan Kingdom among my most valuable contributions to Ceylon scholarship." It is difficult to argue with this sentiment. Ian's study, together with its Addendum (1998), is an exhaustive and extensively annotated documentation of the editions, translations, epitomes, versions, digests, and criticisms of the first and finest descriptive book in English literature pertaining to Sri Lanka (and second only to the ABC in importance).

By the time Ian presented me with his study I had come across a number of words in the Oxford English Dictionary with first usage credited to Robert Knox. Reading Ian's bibliography brought to my attention the fact that Knox's contribution to the lexicon remained undocumented, so spurring me to pursue such research. I am not sure what prompted Ian to gift me his study at that moment in time, other than that Knox was an obvious subject of our correspondence. Certainly he could not have realized the importance of the timing of his gift or the inspiration it would provide. I am sad that he never saw the fruits of my research, "Knox's Words", which is a detailed history of the two-dozen words of Sri Lankan origin Knox brought to the English language.

In the company of great minds
While Ian will be remembered mostly for his achievements as a bibliographer, it must not be forgotten that beforehand he became the most able librarian the country has produced. In 1953 he joined the staff of the newly created University of Ceylon at Peradeniya as the fourth Assistant Librarian, and in 1971 ended up as the first Librarian at the renamed University of Peradeniya. This position he held until 1979, and no doubt would have held much longer, had he not resigned prematurely at the age of 58 over a matter of principle.

Ian considered his 27 years at Peradeniya "the most rewarding, fruitful and enlightening period" of his life, as he revealed on the occasion of the unveiling of his portrait at the University on his 75th birthday. "Rewarding," he told the distinguished gathering, "because of the challenges faced and met in reorganizing the Library in 1953 and building it up over a quarter of a century of rapid development as the central organ of a truly great research-oriented university, while preserving its excellence and its integrity. Fruitful because it enabled me to advance my professional abilities and talents in pursuit of the above goals, as well as to embark on an individual enterprise of research... And enlightening because in the three decades in which I served, the University quickly outgrew its colonial mould and became an ever-burgeoning centre of higher education."

He appreciated that the librarian had in many ways the ideal profession, which is why he once sent me the following extract from the 1774 Old Librarian's Almanac: "There is none so Felicitous as the Librarian, and none with so small a cause of Ill-Content, Jealousy or Rancour. No other Profession is like this; no other so Happy. The Librarian administers to the Wisdom and Delight of Mankind, increases his own Knowledge, and lives surrounded by the Noble thoughts of great minds. He lives Protected, avaricious neither of Money nor of Worldly Fame, and happiest in the goodliest of all occupations, - the pursuit of Wisdom."

Steeped though he was in the tradition of librarianship, Ian had a clear understanding of the responsibilities of a librarian in modern times. On the occasion of the unveiling of his portrait at Peradeniya he told the gathering, "In such confused climes, the inescapable obligation of a librarian to maintain a true picture of order, sanity, sensibility and civilized thought within the confines of a library was never so pressing as it is now." He continued by warning, "A library in the highest sense must serve as a bulwark against the strident swell of an imbecile and vacant materialism, and a librarian must learn to equip himself for this exacting mission."

A rich mosaic
Ian was a gifted writer with a fine love for, and grasp of, the English language. His forte - an extension of his bibliographical expertise - was to gather descriptions of the island by diverse authors and then present the material with informative historical and biographical commentaries in a rich mosaic. Ian's work in this area lead to the complementary anthologies Images of Sri Lanka through American Eyes (1976 and 1998), and Lanka their Lanka: Cameos of Ceylon through other Eyes (1984).

Furthermore, Ian contributed erudite introductions, afterwords and the like to a number of significant contemporary publications (many on the visual arts) and reprints of importance, such as An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon (1681, reprinted 1983 and 1993) by Robert Knox, Those Long Lost Afternoons: Childhood in Colonial Ceylon (1989) by E. F. C. Ludowyk, Serendip to Sri Lanka: Immemorial Isle (1991) by Nihal Fernando, 43 Group: A Chronicle of Fifty Years in the Art of Sri Lanka (1993) by Neville Weereratne, The Kandy Road (1993) by Sir William Ivor Jennings, Tombstones and Monuments in Ceylon (1913, reprinted 1994) by J. Penry Lewis, Sri Lanka: A Personal Odyssey (1997) by Nihal Fernando, and Lionel Wendt:

A Centennial Tribute (2000). Ian wrote many essays and articles, far too many to enumerate here. My favourite among those that I have is undoubtedly the entertaining "Another Mr. Knox in Dutch Ceylon", published in the 1973 Times of Ceylon Annual. This is the salutary tale of one more English sailor called Knox who arrived in the island in 1757 and within a few days, as Ian described it, "made the supreme sacrifice in a short-lived attempt to enliven the tedium of shipboard life, by throwing caution to the treacherous winds of the cold night air, on the ramparts of Galle perhaps, dancing his heart out in the perfumed embraces of those recently arrived ladies from Europe."

To speak of Ian's literary prowess without mentioning his fondness and capacity for correspondence is impossible. I have a file full of sheets and slips of paper and pieces of card of different sizes covered with Ian's miniscule writing. Ian loved to recycle paper long before it became chic and was particularly adept at making new envelopes by turning old ones inside out and re-gumming them. He was also in the habit of hinging pieces of paper to cards on realizing his keenness for the subject had outgrown his writing space.

I cherish this strange looking correspondence. Within these pages of variable geometry is contained a wealth of priceless information that has helped me immeasurably over the years, much of it not from the published volumes of the ABC, but that which languished in his card file.

Although hardly anyone could teach him anything, he entered into correspondence with enthusiasm with researchers around the world regarding matters concerning Sri Lanka. Always willing to share his knowledge with those of serious intent, Ian was, however, an exacting correspondent who expected his recipients to demonstrate the same alacrity as himself.

Just a memory?
Ian was simply one of the most extraordinary repositories of knowledge that this island has ever produced. Indeed, the staggering amount of information concerning the country he assimilated and was able to recall with perfect accuracy earned him the respectful nickname "Encyclopaedia Zeylanica" from Peradeniya students.

Yet despite Ian's substantial contribution to the cultural documentation of Sri Lanka, there is a risk that his achievements will dim in the public memory more quickly than those of many of his contemporaries in the more fashionable arts.

Such an eclipse would be most regrettable but not surprising, especially since the just published Encyclopaedia of Sri Lanka, which has entries for many lesser but more visible figures, commits a sin of omission by failing to allocate one for Ian Goonetileke. While monuments are not built to commemorate librarians or bibliographers, those who are aware of his contribution must somehow ensure his work is remembered into the future beyond the confines of Peradeniya and a small circle of researchers.

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