IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0117 MS 682
Held at: Royal Society
Title: Sowerby, James (1757-1822)
Date(s): 1799-1848
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: Two volumes
Name of creator(s): Sowerby | James | 1757-1822 | naturalist
Sowerby | family | naturalists and artists
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Sowerby trained as an artist and studied at the Royal Academy of Arts. He was best known for his illustrations to English Botany: or Coloured Figures of British Plants, With Their Essential Characters, Synonyms, and Places of Growth (1790-1814). This subsequently became known as 'Sowerby's Botany', although the text was supplied by James Edward Smith, whose name was at first withheld at his own request. His accurate descriptions and Sowerby's skilful drawings, beautifully coloured, made it a highly esteemed work which was frequently re-issued. Sowerby then published British Mineralogy in parts beginning in 1802, and his more important Mineral Conchology of Great Britain, again issued in parts from 1812. Sowerby also provided illustrations for other natural history works, such as that of Strata Identified by Organized Fossils by William Smith. His major contribution to natural history was his vast correspondence with naturalists in Britain and abroad, illustrating the advice he gave and his encouragement to collectors of plants, birds, insects, fossils and minerals. Many specimens were sent to him for identification. He too sent others in return, together with copies of parts of his publications, stimulating further research. He had his own museum at 2 Mead Place Lambeth, which was regularly visited by other naturalists. He married Anne de Carle of Norwich. His eldest son James de Carle Sowerby (1787-1871) and second son George Brettingham Sowerby (1788-1854) assisted him in his work. Their children too were artists and naturalists.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Correspondence to and from James Sowerby and other family members from naturalists and collectors in Britain and abroad.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Letters bound alphabetically by name of correspondent.
Conditions governing access:
Open.
Conditions governing reproduction:
No publication without written permission. Apply to Archivist in the first instance.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Archive card catalogue.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Received by the Royal Society in 1968 from Sir George Taylor (FRS 1968).
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Natural History Museum, correspondence and papers, 1757-1835; Linnean Society of London, drawings and papers, and letters to and from Sir James Smith; Geological Society of London, papers, 1808; National Museum of Wales, sketches; University of Bristol Special Collections, correspondence (Ref: DM 1186); Manuscripts Division, National Library of Scotland, correspondence, 1793-1814 (Ref: MS 3925), 12 letters, 1806-1814, from Charles Lyell (Ref: MS 10789); Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, 14 letters to William Cunningham (Ref: MS 2598/Box 326); Brotherton Library, University of Leeds, letters to James Dalton; Department of Manuscripts and Records, National Library of Wales, 26 letters to Hugh Davies (Ref: NLW MS 6664C); Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, 25 letters, 1813-1819, to Gideon Algernon Mantell (Ref: MS Papers 83 Folder 90); Department of Plant Sciences, University of Oxford, letters to James Smith (Ref: MSS Sherard); Ulster Museum, letters from John Templeton.
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Description produced by the Royal Society and revised by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.
Date(s) of descriptions: Created 17/04/2002, modified 24/05/2002, revised Sep 2002