Sir Joseph Banks was a great Georgian figure. He circumnavigated the world with Captain James Cook on the H.M.S. Endeavor (1768-1771). He took with him a team of naturalists, illustrators and assistants at a personal cost of pounds 10,000. They made unprecedented collections of flora and fauna in most of the places the H.M.S. Endeavor visited. Banks also led the first British scientific expedition to Iceland, in 1772. Later, he settled in London and assembled an enormous herbarium-cum-library. This was remarkable for its size and for the unique material gathered from the Pacific. Banks was elected President of the Royal Society in 1778, a position he held for 41 years -- the longest anyone has served in that capacity. He was also the Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, which flourished under his control and became greater than any other. He was also an influential privy councilor and advisor to George III and the government. Banks was therefore at the scientific and social centre ofGeorgian life for more than five decades of rapid change. Once established in this position, he developed an enormous, global network of correspondence, using letters to shape events, to further knowledge, and to build an empire. There was almost no aspect too insignificant for his attention: and on matters of importance, his opinion was frequently sought. He has been called the "Fathers of Australia" for his role in establishing and then actively supporting colonies on the continent he visited with Cook. On matters of trade or agriculture, botany or horticulture, exploration or navigation, coinage, drainage and science, his views could hardly be avoided. Yet, he was a warm, authoritativewriter, with a "roiling" prose style. His letters make interesting reading for their variety as well as their insight into both his public and private life. This selection is from the over 5,000 letters which he wrote, and will in

"Following his participation in James Cook's circumnavigation in HMS Endeavour (1768-71), Joseph Banks developed an extensive global network of scientists and explorers. His correspondence shows how he developed effective working links with the British Admiralty and with the generation of naval officers who sailed after Cook. He was familiar with most natural philosophers in Britain and across Europe, many of whom consulted his unrivalled collections of Pacific natural history and ethnology, and who shared specimens and information with him regarding the region. Banks also advised the British government and commercial enterprise in the development of successive ventures to India, the Far East and the Pacific. His career demonstrates how a private individual could influence global exploration in the Georgian era. Banks's correspondence is one of the great primary sources for studying the Pacific region during this important period of exploration and colonial expansion. His Indian and Pacific correspondence has not previously been published in a fully edited thematic series. This transcribed edition of over 2000 letters uses material from archives around the world. Together with The Scientific Correspondence of Sir Joseph Banks 1765-1820, this edition establishes Pickering & Chatto as the field leader in the publication of Joseph Banks's edited papers and ensures that editorial standards are applied consistently across his published papers. It will be important for scholars researching the History of Science, Empire Studies, Eighteenth-Century Studies and Travel Literature." --Book Jacket.