Sir Joseph Banks Letter and Caricature
1790s–c1851.
(1) Letter By Sir Joseph Banks, President Of The Royal Society, c1790s. One-page, two-sided manuscript handwritten in ink, 18.5 x 11.5cm (paper). Discolouration to edges, old folds.
The letter, addressed to a Mr Bellemy and signed “Jos Banks”, conveys Banks’ concerns about the delay in receiving minutes of the last meeting of the Royal Society, and whether they had been checked by the chairman.Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820) was president of the Royal Society from November 1778 to his death. The society, originally known as The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, was founded on 28 November 1660 and is the oldest national scientific institution in the world. Ref: Wiki.
(2) James Gillray (British, 1756–1815). The Great South Sea Caterpillar, Transform’d Into A Bath Butterfly [Sir Joseph Banks], 1795/c1851. Etching with later hand-colouring, number “410” in plate upper right, initialled, titled and captioned in plate below image, 35.4 x 24.9cm. Slight stains to margins.
Text reads “Pub. July 4th 1795 by H. Humphrey, No. 37, New Bond Street.” Caption provides a satirical description of the “butterfly” Sir Joseph Banks, emerging from a chrysalis shortly after receiving the red ribbon of the Order of the Bath in 1795. Two other etchings appear verso, titled “A Slice of Glo’ster Cheese” and “For Improving the Breed.” Ref: Library of Congress, USA.
.Item #CL201-2
Price (AUD): $6,600.00 other currencies