The Correspondence of John Bartram, 1734-1777

"Bartram and his correspondents created the professional networks and intellectual foundations for modern botany."--Charlotte M. Porter, associate curator, Florida Museum of Natural History "Fills a void in our knowledge of the American scientific relationship with Great Britain and the continent in the eighteenth century. . . . Bartram's view on the sacredness of all creation is valid for today even more than it was then."--Conrad Wilson, former chief of manuscripts, Historical Society of Pennsylvania In this historically significant volume, America's ranking botany biographers present all 602 letters known to exist that were written to or from John Bartram, one of the most important scientific figures of the eighteenth century. Before undertaking this massive editing job, the Berkeleys had devoted much of their lives to research not only forThe Life and Travels of John Bartrambut for their biographies of three of his fellow American botanists, uncovering a treasure of correspondence among the four colonists. Bartram, "His Majesty's Botanist for North America," had a greater influence on American and European botany than the others and was unquestionably the most colorful. The value of his letters as a commentary on eighteenth-century America was recognized first by William Darlington, who published Memorials of John Bartram and Humphry Marshall in 1849. Darlington dealt only with those letters the Bartram descendants gave him (298 in all), omitting large portions of some and making substantial editorial changes in others. Working with material from 24 libraries, the Berkeleys assembled more than 300 additional letters to and from Bartram. The correspondence is reproduced exactly as written, without alteration of spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or other peculiarities of the authors' writing. Though much of Bartram's mail pertained to his seed business, he exchanged letters with naturalists, merchants, gardeners, his children and relatives, other Quakers, British nobility, and his "much Respected ould and Constant Friend," Benjamin Franklin. His correspondence to and from Peter Collinson, a London woolen draper and an avid gardener who was obsessed with introducing foreign plants into his Surrey garden, forms the basis for the volume. Because his letters are arranged in approximate chronological order, the reader observes Bartram getting older, more irascible, and progressively less healthy (Benjamin Franklin commiserates with Bartram on his failing eyesight, even mailing him a selection of thirteen pairs of spectacles). In all of them, Bartram expresses himself frankly on subjects ranging from plant reproduction and politics to child-rearing practices, the nature of creation, and his fear of thunderstorms, revealing himself to be both a keen witness and a robust participant in the changing American experience. In addition to the definitive biography of John Bartram,The Life and Travels of John Bartram: From Lake Ontario to the River St. John(1982), Edmund Berkeley and Dorothy Smith Berkeley have written biographies of John Clayton, Alexander Garden, John Mitchell, and Moses Ashley Curtis. In 1988 they departed from botanists to prepare a biography of a geologist, farmer, and railroad pioneer, George William Featherstonhaugh: the First U.S. Government Geologist.to Benjamin Franklin in London November ye 5th 1768 Dear ould friend [Peter Collinson] wrote to me last summer that ye King desired me to send him some roots of arums. . . . I have not any so intimate or capable as my dear Benjamin to take care of ye Box I directed to ye King at large on ye lid it will oblige me much if thee will please to send or convey it to ye King . . . from Benjamin Franklin London, January 9, 1769 My Dear old Friend: I received your kind letter of November 5, and the box diThe Correspondence of John Bartram, 1734-1777, First was published 1992 under ISBN 9780813011233 and ISBN 081301123X.