The Miscellaneous Botanical Works of Robert Brown

The botanist Robert Brown (1773-1858) is regarded as one of the most significant figures in the advancement of plant science in the nineteenth century. After studying at Aberdeen and Edinburgh, he made the acquaintance of Sir Joseph Banks via William Withering, and in 1801 was appointed as naturalist on Matthew Flinders’ expedition to Australia. Brown made extensive collections of animals and minerals, but his 3,400 plant specimens from Australia, Tasmania and Timor were the foundation of his work for the rest of his life, as an active member of the Linnean Society, as Banks’s librarian, and as an under-librarian in the British Museum. This two-volume collection of his ‘miscellaneous botanical works’, edited by John J. Bennett, Brown’s assistant at the British Museum, was published in 1866-7. It has not been possible to reissue the accompanying quarto volume of plates. Volume 2 contains ‘Systematic Memoirs’ and ‘Contributions to Systematic Works’.