From Books to Bezoars

This extensively illustrated volume offers fresh perspectives on the great eighteenth-century physician, naturalist and collector, Sir Hans Sloane (1660 - 1753), whose holdings formed the basis of the British Museum and ultimately of its dual offspring, the Natural History Museum and the British Library. The colonial milieu within which Sloane operated is given prominence here, and particularly the time he spent in Jamaica; attention is also paid to his social context and to the way his collecting activities permeated every aspect of his life. Some essays consider the museum specimens accumulated by Sloane, both natural and man-made, shedding new light on his aims in acquiring and organising them. Also included is the first complete publication of the earliest life of Sloane by Thomas Birch, based on personal interviews.