Discovering the Unexpected: Historic Travel Narratives from Joseph Banks to the Present Day
– a catalogue of books, manuscripts and prints on travel, scientific exploration and natural history –




This catalogue was inspired by the Gravity Fields Science Festival in Grantham, celebrating Isaac Newton’s legacy and, this year, particularly the 250thanniversary of Captain Cook’s famous journey to the South Pacific on board HMS Endeavour, accompanied by the botanist Joseph Banks.

The selection presented here encompasses explorations around the world. Items relating to Joseph Banks include limited edition prints from Banks’Florilegium, an autograph letter from Lord Valentia to the botanist Dawson Turner, and a rare first edition of Captain Bligh’s account of the mutiny on the Bounty. Beyond Banks, we have 19th-century photograph albums of Italy and Mexico, an important letter from the polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, signed first editions by the Everest climbers Lord Hunt, Sir Edmund Hillary, and Tenzing Norgay, and early works by women travellers including Gertrude Bell and Freya Stark.


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Discovering the Unexpected: Historic Travel Narratives from Joseph Banks to the Present Day

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Discovering the Unexpected (high resolution).

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