Leibniz discovers Asia: social networking in the Republic of Letters

"This is a work of literary history in which the author reconstructs the epistolary network of a German philologist and philosopher named Gottfried Leibniz and his extended coterie of far-flung correspondents who exchanged information and insights, by way of letters, about the emergent study of historical linguistics, as a means of retracing the origins of the various peoples of Europe. This book contributes to our understanding of the so-called international Republic of Letters in the early-modern period of Europe and the near East"--;Grimaldi at the gates of Muscovy (Fall 1689) -- Making the worst of a bad assignment: Origines Guelficae and the linguistic project (Autumn 1690-July 1692) -- Building the network (April 1691-June 1692) -- The Jesuit search for an overland route across Grand Tartary to China (1685-1689) -- Seeking the languages of Grand Tartary (August 1693-December 1694) -- Assembling Novissima Sinica (February-September 1695) -- Johann Gabriel Sparwenfeld and Gothic origins (November 1695-December 1697) -- The Grand Embassy of Peter the Great (Summer-Fall 1697) -- The Jesuits of Paris and China (1689, November 1697-March 1698) -- The foundations of modern historical linguistics (1697-1716).