The Collectors

This lavishly illustrated book reveals the lives of the people who assembled the greatest botanical collection of the Early Modern period, with stories of adventure and discovery across every continent. Sir Hans Sloane's herbarium, housed at the Natural History Museum in London, is probably the most extensive herbarium collection of its kind. It exemplifies the rich history of exploration and discovery in the period preceding Cook's voyages, and it remains of considerable scientific and historical value today. Assembled between the 1680s and 1750s, it comprises an estimated 120,000 pressed plant specimens. More than 300 people contributed to its development across more than 70 countries.