Joseph Banks' Florilegium：Botanical Treasures from Cook's First Voyage

AcompacteditionofJosephBanks’extraordinarybotanicalengravingsoffloradiscoveredonCaptainCook’sfirstvoyage.JosephBanksaccompaniedCaptainCookonhisfirstvoyagearoundtheworldfrom1768to1771.Agiftedandwealthyyoungnaturalist,BankscollectedexoticflorafromMadeira,Brazil,TierradelFuego,theSocietyIslands,NewZealand,Australia,andJava,bringingbackover1,300speciesthathadneverbeenseenorstudiedbyEuropeans.Onhisreturn,Bankscommissionedover700engravings.KnowncollectivelyasBanks’Florilegium,theyaresomeofthemostpreciseandexquisiteexamplesofbotanicalillustrationevercreated.TheFlorilegiumwasneverpublishedinBanks’lifetime,anditwasnotuntil1990thatacompletesetincolorwasissuedunderthedirectionoftheBritishMuseum.ItisfromtheseprintsthatthenewcompacteditionofJosephBanks’Florilegiumisselected,asdirectedbyDavidMabberley,whohasprovidedexpertbotanicalcommentaries.ArthistorianMelGoodingsetstheworksincontextwhileanafterwordbyJoeStudholmedescribesthehistoryofmodernprinting.JosephBanks’Florilegiumisnotonlyagreatworkofscience,butalsoamajorachievementincollaborativeEnlightenmentartandavolumeofoutstandingbeauty.