PublishedVintage Books, April 1988 |
ISBN9781860464065 |
FormatSoftcover, 336 pages |
Dimensions21.6cm × 13.5cm × 2.5cm |
Joseph Banks was one of the most influential figures in British maritime history and the development of the natural sciences in the country. Born in 1743, he travelled with Captain Cook on the Endeavour, collecting thousands of plant and animal specimens.
Unofficially the first director of the Botanic Gardens at Kew, Banks was also President of the Royal Society for a remarkable 42 years. Patrick O Brian, author of the famous Aubrey/Maturin series of novels, has written a biography of Banks which is notable for both its erudition and its sympathy with its polymathic subject. Drawing on Banks s extensive correspondence and journals, as well as sources as diverse as the Proceedings of the Royal Society and the diaries of Fanny Burney, O Brian has produced a rounded portrait which does justice to an extraordinary man and the range of his achievements.
