Sir Joseph Banks was a great Georgian figure. He circumnavigated the world with Captain James Cook on the H.M.S. Endeavor (1768-1771). He took with him a team of naturalists, illustrators and assistants at a personal cost of pounds 10,000. They made unprecedented collections of flora and fauna in most of the places the H.M.S. Endeavor visited. Banks also led the first British scientific expedition to Iceland, in 1772. Later, he settled in London and assembled an enormous herbarium-cum-library. This was remarkable for its size and for the unique material gathered from the Pacific. Banks was elected President of the Royal Society in 1778, a position he held for 41 years -- the longest anyone has served in that capacity. He was also the Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, which flourished under his control and became greater than any other. He was also an influential privy councilor and advisor to George III and the government. Banks was therefore at the scientific and social centre ofGeorgian life for more than five decades of rapid change. Once established in this position, he developed an enormous, global network of correspondence, using letters to shape events, to further knowledge, and to build an empire. There was almost no aspect too insignificant for his attention: and on matters of importance, his opinion was frequently sought. He has been called the "Fathers of Australia" for his role in establishing and then actively supporting colonies on the continent he visited with Cook. On matters of trade or agriculture, botany or horticulture, exploration or navigation, coinage, drainage and science, his views could hardly be avoided. Yet, he was a warm, authoritativewriter, with a "roiling" prose style. His letters make interesting reading for their variety as well as their insight into both his public and private life. This selection is from the over 5,000 letters which he wrote, and will in
The Scientific Correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks is an unprecedented and continuous record of fifty years of intellectual and technological activity. It provides a unique insight into the development of science and discovery from the eighteenth to the early nineteenth century. It links British science and society to developments on the continent of Europe, the West Indies, North America and to countries farther afield. The current edition is almost entirely comprised of previously unpublished letters to and from Sir Joseph Banks, gathered together from over 150 repositories worldwide. The letters are invaluable to scholars and students of the history of science and natural history, eighteenth-century culture and society, as well as empire studies. They will also be welcomed by museums and institutions around the world associated with Banks' life and work. It includes: around 2,300 letters, largely unpublished, from international archives including: The Natural History Museum, London; The British Library, London; The Sutro Library, California; The Mitchell Library, Sydney; The National Library of Australia, Canberra; Yale University Libraries, Connecticut; Lincolnshire County Archives, Lincoln; Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone; Archive, and Royal Botanic Gardens. Editorial apparatus includes full and detailed annotation, a general introduction and a consolidated index. A calendar of correspondents is also given, along with brief biographical details of each.
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