James Britten (after Banks)

Botanical prints, Joseph Banks

In 1899, after protracted discussions, the Trustees of the British Museum agreed to publish, for wider dissemination, a limited edition of botanical prints from Captain James Cook's first and second voyages in H.M.S. Endeavour. The original watercolour drawings which had been transferred to copper plates, between 1771 and 1784, under the supervision of Sir Joseph Banks, are now generally referred to as the "florilegium" and had come into the Museum's possession, by bequest, in 1827.

In order to contain the costs of production it was decided to transfer the original designs to lithographic stones for printing. Even so (and despite the intention to reproduce the whole of Banks' Florilegium by this method), the cost and time taken for the work decided the Museum to desist, after the three parts of "Illustrations of Australian Plants" had been released between 1900 and 1905. The prints we have available are from that edition, which was published under the direction of James Britten, who also updated Dr. Daniel Solander's original nomenclature.

It was only in the 1980s that the British Museum did eventually publish Banks' Florilegium from the original copper plates.

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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END027 Coastal Banksia
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END051 Vaiable Bossiaea
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END053 Rattlepod
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END071 Grey Corkwood
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END072 Burny Vine
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Botanical prints, Joseph Banks

#END080 Moreton Bay Chestnut or Blackbean
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END087 Black Wattle
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END109 Stiff Bottlebrush
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END113 Malaleuca leucadendron
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END119 Native Loquat
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END121 Lilly pilly
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END129 Native Passionfruit
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END160 Sea Daisy
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END163 Golden Everlasting
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END179 Lobelia dentata
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END212 Morning Glory
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph banks

#END213 Morning Glory
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Botanical Prints, Sir Joseph Banks

#END229 Golden Bouquet Tree
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END238 White Beech
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END239 Lolly Bush
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END261 Fern-leaved Silky Oak
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END264 Grevillea glauca
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Australian botanicals, Sir Joseph Banks

#END299 Golden Orchid
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