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