Catalogus Bibliothecae Historico Naturalis Josephi Banks

London: Gul. Bulmer, 1800. Hardcover. Otherwise very good condition. Two volumes of this rare set of the privately issued catalog of the private library of Sir Joseph Banks, of which only 250 copies were published. Volumes IV & V, of which the last volume is often missing from institutional sets. Volume 5 contains a list of works from the first four volumes indexed by author, as well as a supplementary list of those items that were acquired after the publication of the previous volumes. Taylor notes that the fifth volume (1800), is lacking in three of the nine sets he located.

Jonas Carlsson Dryander (1748- 1810), Swedish botanist and librarian, served as Banks' librarian and curator of his collections from 1782 on at Banks' home in Dean Street, Soho. He succeeded Daniel Solander, a fellow Swede, in this role; Dryander later became librarian of the Royal Society and the first librarian and vice president of the Linnean Society.

Dryander's crowning achievement was this catalog of Banks' private library, described as follows: "his catalogue of the Banksian library, which is before the public, will be a lasting monument of erudition, perserverance, and sound judgement, which has never been equaled.." (The Monthly Magazine, Vol. 30, 1810, p373). When Dryander died, Banks wrote to his surgeon "‘I have lost my right hand man ... my chief pleasure, that of my library, is reduced almost to a shadow". (Banks to Home, Natural History Museum, Dawson Turner copies, 18.88a).

Provenance of these volumes, the collection of Edward Forster, with his signature. This is likely Edward Forster the younger (1765 - 1849), brother of Thomas Furly Forster, who was one of the first fellows of the Linnean Society, member of many scientific societies, and friend of Jonas Dryander and Sir Joseph Banks.

8vo, half dark brown calf with marbled boards. Volume IV, 'Mineralogi' (books concerning geology and mineralogy); Volume V, 'Supplementum et index auctorum' contains a list of works in the collection indexed by author, and a supplementary list of items acquired after the publication of the preceding volumes.

On both volumes, the rear board is loose but holding, and they are a bit rubbed. Rare on the market.