Plantae Javanicae Rariores

Plantae Javanicae Rariores

QK367 .H8

c. 1852

Full title: Plantae javanicae rariores : descriptae iconibusque illustratae, quas in insula Java, annis 1802-1818. Thomas Horsfield was an American naturalist. He was born in Philadelphia and died in London. As part of his numerous travels he pursued investigations into the natural history of Java. After arriving in England in 1820, he worked as the keeper of the East India Company Museum at which his collections of 2196 species were placed. As early as 1800, a voyage to Batavia (now Jakarta), as a surgeon of a vessel from Philadelphia, gave him an opportunity to observe something of the characters of the island of Java. He later returned twice to study and collect plants from all parts of the island. The plants that he collected were described in detailed in this book.

For 19 years American surgeon Thomas Horsfield avidly investigated the natural history of Java before illness forced him to accept a position with the East India Company Museum in London. There he deposited his collection of 2,196 botanical species. Horsfield struggled to build his scientific reputation. Unfortunately his two major mentors, Sir Joseph Banks and Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, died soon after his arrival in England, depriving him of their powerful support in the caste-ridden social and scientific world of London. Overwhelmed with the time-consuming task of disbursing the vast collections of the dying East India Company, he and those who collaborated with him in preparing his publication failed to move quickly enough to keep ahead of the growing competition. Meanwhile he watched as others took acclaim for discoveries he had made.

Asia - Southeast Asia Collection, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library

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