Marshall, Humphry. Sir Joseph Banks to Humphry Marshall, 1790-04-03

Letters and other papers of Humphry Marshall, of Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. Marshall was a botanist and plant dealer, and author of Arbustum Americanum: The American Grove, 1785, (French translation: Catalogue alphabetique des arbres et arbrisseaux, 1788). He was a Quaker, and a cousin of botanist John Bartram (1699-1777).

These are all letters received by Marshall, concerned with orders for trees, shrubs and seeds, and the publication of his work. One of the main correspondents in this collection is British botanist and explorer Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), president of the Royal Society, London, and honorary director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Others include Dr. Thomas Parke (1749-1835), George Pennock, Samuel Vaughan, and William Vaughan. Several of the letters include detailed lists of plants requested. A few are addressed to Moses Marshall (1758-1813), Humphry's nephew and his assistant in the later years of his life. Included with the collection is an undated broadside, "Some Account of the Naked or Siberian Barley."

Notes on Names and Spellings: The letters are arranged alphabetically by writer, and then chronologically. The broadside is filed after the letters.

A number of these letters were printed in William Darlington's double biography, Memorials of John Bartram and Humphry Marshall. Letters that appear in that book are marked with the note "Darlington, p. ___." Page numbers refer to the first edition (Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1849).