The Oriental Translation Fund was established in 1828 by a committee of the Royal Asiatic Society under the Chairmanship of Sir Gore Ouseley. Its purpose was to translate and publish such "interesting and valuable works on eastern History, Science, and Belles-Lettres as are still in MS... The object proposed is, to publish, free of expense to the authors, translations of the whole or parts of such works...generally to be accompanied by the original texts printed separately." King George IV became patron of the Fund. In its early years the fund was financed by subscriptions and the list of subscribers included: Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, the Prime Minister (Wellington), the Archbishop of Canterbury and one of the founders of the Royal Asiatic Society, Henry Colebrooke. The Oriental Translation Committee who controlled the Fund was independent to the Society and an annual subsidy of 100 guineas was received from the East India Company. Various works were published throughout this period and these formed Series One of the publications (1828-1879). However, operations were suspended in 1860 due to a lack of funds and the Committee disposed of most of its stock. The Royal Asiatic Society Council considered reviving the fund in 1888 due mainly to the efforts of the British Orientalist, Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot. He led the management of the Fund and donated finances. He was also supported by the former Viceroy of India, Lord Northbrook, and a prominent Sanskrit Scholar, E.T. Sturdy. This led to the Series Two publications. The Fund is still operational today.

Max Müller, was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, a founder in the western academic field of Indian studies. He was born in Dessau and was educated in Leipzig. In 1850, he was appointed deputy Taylorian professor of modern European languages at Oxford University and in 1868 was made Oxford's first Professor of Comparative Philology. "The Sacred Books of the East", a 50-volume set of English translations, was prepared under his direction. He also promoted the idea of a Turanian family of languages.

Forster Fitzgerald (F. F.) Arbuthnot (1833-1901) was a linguist and translator. He spent his early career in the Indian civil service in Bombay where he would have known Edward Rehatsek. He was also a close friend of Richard Burton and collaborated with him on publications. He acted as an editor for some of Rehatsek's work.