John and William Bartram, Botanists and Explorers: 1699–1777, 1739–1823

Abstract

THIS book is delightful reading. It tells of pleasant people in happy times, for it is mostly about Philadelphia in Benjamin Franklin's day. John Bartram, member of the Society of Friends and poorly educated in a village school, bought a piece of rough land on the Schuylkill River, hard by the city, in the year 1728; there he built his house, drained his land and won his way to prosperity. Meanwhile he planted a garden and learned botany, became a friend of Benjamin Franklin, and signed his name next to Franklin's own on the Founders' Roll of the American Philosophical Society. He came in close touch with Peter Collinson, and was the chief source of new and rare American plants for him and his many gardening friends; sent pine–cones to the Duke of Norfolk and seeds to Philip Miller and dozens more; was dubbed king's botanist for the American Colonies by George III, made a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Stockholm, and called by Linnaeus the greatest natural botanist in the world.

John and William Bartram, Botanists and Explorers: 1699–1777, 1739–1823

By Ernest Earnest. Pp. vii + 177 + 2 plates. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1940.) 12s. net.