Abstract
This article investigates some of the methods and motivations that underpinned the earliest scholarship in Pli and Buddhist Studies in Britain, focusing in particular on the works of R.C. Childers (1838-1876) and his correspondence with T.W. Rhys Davids (1843-1922). I explore the variety of actors that helped inform, shape and publish R.C. Childers' scholarship, while also taking into account the reception of his work, its political significance, and its role as a commodity.