Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
John Chamberlayne to Hans Sloane – August 4, 1719
Item info
Date: August 4, 1719
Author: John Chamberlayne
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: f. 229
Original Page
Transcription
Chamberlayne informs Sloane that he received a letter from ‘the Swedish Minister’ and is not sure what to tell him. The man is writing a book and has the opportunity of ‘writing into Sweden’ so long as ‘the Czar dont give leave’ [?]. Chamberlayne asks Sloane what happened to copies of a book that were at the Royal Society. He congratulates Sloane on his daughter’s marriage.
John Chamberlayne was a translator and editor specializing in modern languages which he studied at the University of Leiden. He translated works on many topics, was a fellow of the Royal Society, and published three works in the Philsophical Transactions (Reavley Gair, Chamberlayne, John (1668/91723), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5060, accessed 30 May 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Charles Preston to Hans Sloane – September 25, 1706
Item info
Date: September 25, 1706
Author: Charles Preston
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4040
Folio: f. 222-224
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Language
English
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Library
British Library, London
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Categories
Curiosity Reports, Philosophical Transactions, Scientific, Social
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Subjects
Archimedes, Botany, Gardens, Scandinavia, Storms, Trees, Weather, Whales
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Date (as written)
September 25, 1706
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Standardised date
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Origin (as written)
Edr [Edinburgh]
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Others mentioned
Mr Adair
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Patients mentioned
Original Page
Transcription
Preston has been busy working on his physic garden. He thanks Sloane for the Philosophical Transactions. Preston goes on to discuss a number of things: the progress of his trees’ growth, Archimedes’ contemporaries, trees from Norway and Sweden, and a storm that threw a whale onto the road near St Andrew’s. He includes an illustration of a flower: f. 223.
Preston was a physician and botanist who established a lengthy correspondence with Sloane, exchanging plants, seeds, books and information. His main interest was in botany, and was well-known by his contemporaries for his botanical knowledge (Anita Guerrini, Preston, Charles (16601711), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47084, accessed 1 June 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
James Petiver to Hans Sloane – ca. June, 1711
Item info
Date: ca. June, 1711
Author: James Petiver
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4042
Folio: f. 296
Original Page
Transcription
Petiver explains the costs he incurred during his trip to Holland. A donation was made to the ‘Phisick Garden at Chelsey’.
James Petiver was a botanist and entomologist who worked in England. He traveled little, getting his specimens locally or from contacts. He traveled to Leiden on behalf of Sloane to the auction of Paul Hermann’s collection in 1711 (D. E. Allen, Petiver, James (c.16651718), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2009 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22041, accessed 8 June 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Richard Richardson to Hans Sloane – September 5, 1726
Item info
Date: September 5, 1726
Author: Richard Richardson
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4048
Folio: ff. 193-194
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Language
English
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Library
British Library, London
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Categories
Collections, Library, Scientific, Social, Trade or Commodities, Travel
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Subjects
Books, Botany, Cabinet, Chelsea Physic Garden, Curiosities, History, Japan, Subscriptions
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Date (as written)
September 5, 1726
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Standardised date
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Origin (as written)
North Bierley
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Others mentioned
Engelbert Kaempfer Johann Jakob Scheuchzer Mr Pieller
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Patients mentioned
Original Page
Transcription
Richardson viewed Sloane’s cabinet of curiosities and admits he ‘could have spent a month’ looking over the collection. On his way home, ‘four miles South of Grantham’, Richardson happened upon a ‘great plenty [of] Stashys Fuchey [?]’. There are many plants missing in the Chelsea Physic Garden, especially from Wales and northern Britain. He is going to inform Mr Pieller of the plants he thinks the garden should have. Richardson asks Sloane to put him in the service of Dr Scheuchzer and inform him that he has found three subscribers for Kaempfer’s History of Japan. Richardson thanks Sloane for sending books. He includes a list of books he wants to purchase for his library.
Richardson was a physician and botanist who traveled widely in England, Wales, and Scotland in search of rare specimens. He corresponded and exchanged plants with many well-known botanists and naturalists (W. P. Courtney, Richardson, Richard (16631741), rev. Peter Davis, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2010 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23576, accessed 31 May 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Richard Richardson to Hans Sloane – November 13, 1725
Item info
Date: November 13, 1725
Author: Richard Richardson
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4048
Folio: ff. 85-86
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Language
English
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Library
British Library, London
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Categories
Collections, Medical, Social, Travel
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Subjects
Birds, Botany, Edinburgh Physic Garden, Ornithology, Plants, Scotland, Specimens
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Date (as written)
November 13, 1725
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Standardised date
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Origin (as written)
North Bierley
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Others mentioned
Sam. Haggers Mr Woods Charles Preston Ralph Thoresby
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Patients mentioned
Richard Richardson
Original Page
Transcription
Richardson did not write to Sloane after his visit to Scotland because of the poor weather. He observed birds and plants throughout his journey. Richardson was going to plant the specimens he studied in his garden, but Mr Wood, Mr Preston’s successor at the Edinburgh Physic Garden, could not get them together before he had to depart. He lists the plants he requested and describes his experiences in Edinburgh. He sent ‘a pott of Woodcocks’ to Sloane by Sam. Haggers.
Richardson was a physician and botanist who traveled widely in England, Wales, and Scotland in search of rare specimens. He corresponded and exchanged plants with many well-known botanists and naturalists (W. P. Courtney, Richardson, Richard (16631741), rev. Peter Davis, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2010 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23576, accessed 31 May 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Thomas Bury to Hans Sloane – July 21, 1720
Item info
Date: July 21, 1720
Author: Thomas Bury
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4045
Folio: ff. 349-350
Original Page
Transcription
Bury had sent ‘a side of venison’ to Sloane as a gift. He asks that Sloane show his collection to his brother Denys. He also sent ‘two samples of Catechu cakes. The Lady’s […] a pound of double refin’d sugar to one ounce of earth, with a little musk and Amber=grise’ to make it.
Thomas Bury (bap. 1652, d. 1722) was a judge, appointed to the bench by both Queen Anne and George I. He was sympathetic to the whigs and given the position of chief baron of the exchequer in 1716, and member of the Royal Society in 1718 (Stuart Handley, Bury, Sir Thomas (bap. 1652, d. 1722), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4155, accessed 17 Aug 2011]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Ambrose Godfrey Sr. to Hans Sloane – July 5, 1721
Item info
Date: July 5, 1721
Author: Ambrose Godfrey Sr.
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4046
Folio: ff. 93-94
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Language
English
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Library
British Library, London
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Categories
Collections, Patronage, Social, Trade or Commodities, Travel
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Subjects
Biography, Denmark, Fossils, Jamaica, Mining, Plantations, Recommendations, Shells, Specimens, Virginia, War
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Date (as written)
July 5, 1721
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Standardised date
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Origin (as written)
Southampton street
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Others mentioned
Dr Pokellman Johannes Heinricus Linck Herman Boerhaave Mr Kirckoff
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Patients mentioned
Original Page
Transcription
Sloane had asked Godfrey if he knew anything of Mr Pokellman. Godfrey offers a biography of the man. Pokellman speaks Danish and Swedish, studied medicine in Leiden, witnessed the defeat of the Swedish army, laboured ‘at the minerale Worcks of the King of Denmark’, tried his hand at selling oysters from ‘the thamse to the River Elbe’, and sought his fortune in the English plantations in ‘jamaica or Virginia’. Godfrey recommends Pokellman as a family physician and consultant on ‘minerall Essayes’. Godfrey requests that Sloane send any ‘cocuillage or petrefacts’, as he wants to send specimens to a friend in Leipzig.
Ambrose Godfrey Sr. (1660-1741) was a chemist. He was first employed by Robert Boyle and went on to work at Apothecaries’ Hall. Godfrey analyzed the chemical properties of stones, waters, and other materials for Hans Sloane and the Royal Society. His work was published in the Philosophical Transactions from 1731 to 1736 (Lawrence M. Principe, Godfrey, Ambrose, the elder (16601741), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10865, accessed 14 Aug 2013]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Hans Sloane to D'Efferen – Oct. 31. 1715.
Item info
Date: Oct. 31. 1715.
Author: Hans Sloane
Recipient: D'Efferen
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4068
Folio: f.100-101
Original Page
Transcription
MonSr.
J’ay veu la memoire que vostre Excellence a envoyè a MonSr. Le Clerc touchante[?] arbre dont vous avez les branches chez moy portant la dentelle ou toile fine quoi vient sur les branches menues & grosse qui vient sur les gros trones du mesmes arbre. Cette arbre vient dans les dans les montagnes mediterannees de l’Isle de la Jamaique. Il y a treize couches dentelles ou toiles fines sur chaque branche entre l’ecorce exterieur & le bois de l’arbre & ces toiles ne sont autre chose que lecorce interieur défendue & ainsi de voloprèe. On dans ces Ces pays la des cravatiers & des autres ornemens des hommes & femmes du cela & ces toiles se lavent aussi bien que les toiles du Lïn: J’ay nomme cette arbre dans un catalogue que j’ay publie des plantes que j’ay trouve la Laur folia arbor folio latione mucronato leui splendente cortico luteziori in telas plurima, linearum emulas exten suli. cat. pl. Jam. p. 137. L’Arbre s’apelle dans le pays Lagetta. Je donnerait bientot l’hystoire de cet arbre avec figure gravée dans le 2e. volume di lhistoire naturelle de la Jamaique avec les figures des autres arbres oiseaux & que j’ay peu fait gravee il y a long temps mais que des oaupatory[?] de la medicine m’ont empeche de publier. Je suis je vostre tres lette[?].
Oct. 31. 1715.
Comte d’Efferen
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Richard Bradley to Hans Sloane – September 29, 1727
Item info
Date: September 29, 1727
Author: Richard Bradley
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4049
Folio: ff. 38-39
Original Page
Transcription
Bradley’s paper was published thanks to Sloane having purchased stamps for him. He is looking for more booksellers to carry his paper. Du Bois helped Bradley with the paper. Bradley plans on settling his debts, which he believes to be ‘one hundred pounds’. He hopes that a ‘Publick Physic Garden’ will be founded in Cambridge and details how such a garden would benefit the university and himself.
Richard Bradley (1688?-1732) was a scientific author, Fellow of the Royal Society, and Professor of Botany at Cambridge (Frank N. Egerton, “Bradley, Richard (1688?-1732)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2005 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3189, accessed 10 Nov 2012]).
Posted on August 2, 2016 by -
Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset to Hans Sloane – December 19, 1731
Item info
Date: December 19, 1731
Author: Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset
Recipient: Hans Sloane
Library: British Library, London
Manuscript: Sloane MS 4052
Folio: f. 55
Original Page
Transcription
[fol. 55] Pettworth Decembr the 19th 1731 Sr Not having heard from you since I saw you last in the month of July when I desired you to speak to Mr. Miller or to others of your acquaintance to gett mee a good, Honest sober and ingenious Gardener skillfull in the most usefull Branches of a Kitchen Garden & of a Pleasure Garden. I ffear you have forgott the promise you then was pleased to make mee. therefore I doe now Remind you of it, & at the same time. I send you some of my winter venison as a Prooffe that I have not fogott you. I am your most humble servant somerset When you doe hear of a Right good Gardener pray send him to Bridgewater to northumberland House.
Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset (1662-1748) was a prominent politician and courtier known as the ‘Proud Duke’ (R. O. Bucholz, “Seymour, Charles, sixth duke of Somerset (1662-1748)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/25158, accessed 5 July 2011]).