• BANKS' FLORILEGIUM

    a botanical masterpiece

Banks' Florilegium comprises 743 ENGRAVINGS of plants gathered by SIR JOSEPH BANKS and DR DANIEL SOLANDER on Captain JAMES COOK'S First Voyage round the World in HM Bark Endeavour, 1768-71

Banks' Florilegium comprises 743 ENGRAVINGS of plants gathered by SIR JOSEPH BANKS and DR DANIEL SOLANDER on Captain JAMES COOK'S First Voyage round the World in HM Bark Endeavour, 1768-71

The original 18th century copper plates were printed and published in colour for the first time between 1980 and 1990 by Alecto Historical Editions, in association with the British Museum (Natural History).

The edition was limited to one hundred complete sets numbered 1/100 to 100/100, with ten sets Hors Commerce numbered I/X to X/X, three sets of Printers’ Proofs numbered PP 1/3 to PP 3/3 and three Exhibition Sets numbered EP 1/3 to EP 3/3. The edition of complete sets was fully subscribed. 

To mark the publication of Thames & Hudson’s new book, Joseph Banks’ Florilegium, Botanical Treasures from Cook’s First Voyage the remaining individual prints from the Exhibition Sets are being released for sale.

There are never more than three prints of a particular plate available. Orders will be taken on a strictly first come first served basis.

One complete Hors Commerce set of Banks’ Florilegium, comprising all 743 plates in 35 Parts is also available. Please contact us for details.

Browse Prints

LOOKING FOR A SPECIFIC IMAGE?

Search our library of prints

PRESS COMMENTS

  • It is as if the long process of discovery and revelation had been imprisoned within three tons of copper and is at last to be released to find embodiment on the printed page... The completion of Banks' Florilegium will be a debt magnificently discharged to the memory of Joseph Banks, to Solander and Parkinson and to their engravers. It will also be a declaration of faith to those who will look on with wonder in time to come.

    THE TIMES

  • This work is a major contribution to world knowledge. It is a foundation stone in the study of Australian natural history.

    AUSTRALIAN SATURDAY REVIEW. THE ADVERTISER

  • It is as though a great buried archaeological cache of art and science is being opened to the world... Yes, Banks' Florilegium now lives, a part of the stock of Western civilisation, a permanent flowering.

    SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE

  • Certainly anyone who looks at the finished works cannot help but be overcome by the infinite patience, care and scholarship that has gone into the venture. Each and every print is a work of great beauty and of such historical importance that it is quite overwhelming.

    THE FINANCIAL TIMES

  • Few Australians would see it without feeling their skin prickle, so immediate is the feeling of history.

    SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

  • The ownership of even one or two parts of this distinguished landmark in botanical and graphic art amounts to a highly promising investment.

    THE CONNOISSEUR

  • But compared with the value of many a merely passable painting these days, considering their historical importance and seeing their superlative craftsmanship I suspect they are going to be botany's true blue chip.

    THE GARDEN

  • No one will ever see such a thing again, a living record of a voyage of discovery.

    WORLD OF INTERIORS