by Joyce Morgan
Abbot Wang, custodian of the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas from whom Stein obtained the Diamond Sutra and other treasures. The Daoist monk is buried at the caves. © The British Library Board
Scrolls stacked outside the entrance to Cave 17, the hidden Library Cave in which they were discovered. (The scrolls were added by double exposure after Stein returned to London.) © The British Library Board
Frontispiece of the Diamond Sutra, the world’s oldest printed dated book, depicts the Buddha delivering his teaching to devotees. © The British Library Board
A detail from the Sutra of the Ten Kings, found in the Library Cave, depicts the Chinese Buddhist version of Judgment Day. © The British Library Board
Frenchman Paul Pelliot, Stein’s rival, spent three weeks studying scrolls and other material that remained in Cave 17 in March 1908. Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Art Resource, NY
Stein’s caravan crosses the Taklamakan Desert’s ocean of sand in February 1908. © The British Library Board
Stein’s laborers find the Keriya River after almost dying of thirst along the perilous Thieves’ Road. © The British Library Board
The crumbling facades of the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, near Dunhuang as Stein found them in 1907. The honeycombed grottoes reminded him of troglodyte dwellings. Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Secret tunnel at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth where the Diamond Sutra and Stein’s other valuable scrolls were hidden during World War II. © The Trustees of the British Museum
Entrance to the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. Today more than 650,000 people arrive each year to see the once-deserted caves. Conrad Walters