This book on the pre-modern Tibeto-Burman languages represents a movement to establish a field of Tibeto-Burman comparative-historical linguistics according to the classical Indo-European model. The book contains papers by T. Takeuchi on Old Zhang-zhung, A. Zadoks on Old Tibetan, K. Tamot on Early Classical Newari; C. Beckwith on Pyu, R. Yanson on Old Burmese, S. Chelliah and S. Ray on Early Meithei, D. Bradley on Tibeto-Burman, and C. Beckwith on Sino-Tibetan. Glossaries of several early Tibeto-Burman languages are included. It provides information, not found in any other source, on early Tibeto-Burman literary languages and their position within Tibeto-Burman as well as their relationship to Chinese and other languages.