Joseph Banks and the British Museum: The World of Collecting, 1770-1830 - Hardcover

Chambers, Neil

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 185196858X ISBN 13: 9781851968589

Publisher: Routledge, 2007

Synopsis

Concentrating on the explorer and naturalist Joseph Banks (1743-1820), this book explores the early history of collections at the British Museum. Taking Banks' extraordinary career as its basis, it examines the changes that took place during a period of transition that led to collecting on an increasingly global scale.

About this title

Review:

'scrupulously researched and referenced' Archives of Natural History 'A tantalizing taster to the wealth of information that we can expect from The Scientific Correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks; together these publications will shape how historians, biographers and other scholars will interpret Banks's contribution to the world of science.' Notes and Records of the Royal Society

Synopsis:

There has been an upsurge of interest in the British Museum's unrivalled collections and their place in eighteenth-century culture. Concentrating on the explorer and naturalist Joseph Banks (1743-1820), this book explores the early history of collections at the British Museum, the first public national museum to be established. Banks travelled around the world with James Cook on HMS Endeavour, making important plant, animal and insect collections. Becoming one of the major patrons of British exploration and science, Banks was a significant trustee and donor of material for the museum. Taking Banks's extraordinary career as its basis, this book examines the changes that took place during a period of transition that led to collecting on an increasingly global scale and shows how these affected the British Museum itself. The book will appeal to scholars of eighteenth-century science, culture and arts, museum history, exploration and empire.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 185196858X
• ISBN 13: 9781851968589
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 210