Banks' Florilegium, Part XI Australia, List of Plates 226 - 247
Publisher
Alecto Historical Editions
Date1983
Object number00032774
NameList
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 737 x 573 mm
Copyright© Natural History Museum, London
ClassificationsEphemera
Credit LineANMM Collection Gift from Dr and Mrs Eric and Margaret Schiller
DescriptionA list of plates from 'Banks' Florilegium, Part XII Australia, Plates 226 - 247'. This edition was published by Alecto Historical Editions and the British Museum (Natural History) in 1983.
This list is for plates 226 - 247 which cover the Family and Species of Convolvulaceae (Plate 226), Scrophulariaceae (Plates 227 - 231), Lentibulariaceae (Plates 232 - 242), Bignoniaceae (Plates 243 - 244), Pedaliaceae (Plate 245) and Acanthaceae (Plates 246 - 247). The list also provides the Banksian names.
HistoryOne of the greatest achievementsof the voyage of the ENDEAVOUR (1768-1771 ) was the extensive collection of botanical specimens that had been assembled by Sir Joseph Banks. Gathered on shore expeditions, after returning to ship they were drawn quickly by the artist Sydney Parkinson, and scientifically classified by Banks. While the specimens survived shipwreck at Endeavour Reef, Parkinson died in Batavia.
Banks's intention had been to publish the botanical results of the voyage but after only a few plates were engraved, he seems to have realised the scale of the undertaking and it came to a halt. Only in our own era was a decision made to bring the project to fruition, and in one of the great feats of publishing, Alecto Editions issued the entire Florilegiumin a limited number of parts in the 1980's .
The Australian National Maritime Museum holds the Australian component of the collection, consisting of 337 prints in fifteen folios. These are the results of Banks's collecting on the east coast of the continent, particularly at Botany Bay and Endeavour River.
The Banksia itself is appropriately one of the most distinctive and attractive of these specimens .SignificanceOne of the greatest achievements of the voyage of the ENDEAVOUR (1768-1771) was the extensive collection of botanical specimens that had been assembled by Sir Joseph Banks. Gathered on shore expeditions, after returning to ship they were drawn quickly by the artist Sydney Parkinson, and scientifically classified by Banks. Despite his best efforts, the Florilegium was not published in Bank's lifetime and only appeared in a very limited edition 200 years later.