When English naturalist Joseph Banks (1743-1820) accompanied
Captain James Cook (1728-1779) on his historic mission into the
Pacific, the Endeavour voyage of 1768-1771, he took with him a team
of collectors and illustrators. They returned with unprecedented
collections of artifacts and specimens of stunning birds, fish, and
other animals, as well as thousands of plants, most seen for the
first time in Europe. They produced, too, remarkable landscape and
figure drawings of the peoples encountered on the voyage along with
detailed journals and descriptions of the places visited, which,
with the first detailed maps of these lands (Tahiti, New Zealand,
and the east coast of Australia), were later used to create
lavishly illustrated accounts of the mission. These caused a storm
of interest in Europe where plays, poems, and satirical caricatures
were later produced to celebrate and examine the voyage, its
personnel, and many "new" discoveries. Along with contemporary
portraits of key personalities aboard the ship, scale models and
plans of the ship itself, scientific instruments taken on the
voyage, commemorative medals and sketches, the objects (over 140)
featured in this book tell the story of the Endeavour voyage and
its impact ahead of the 250th anniversary in 2018 of the launch of
this seminal mission. Artwork made both during and after the voyage
will be seen alongside actual specimens. By comparing the voyage
originals with the often stylized engravings later produced in
London for the official account, Endeavouring Banks investigates
how knowledge gained on the mission was gathered, revised, and
later received in Europe. Items that had been separated in some
cases for more than two centuries are brought together to reveal
their fascinating history not only during but since that mission.
Original voyage specimens are featured together with illustrations
and descriptions of them, showing a rich diversity of newly
discovered species and how Banks organized this material, planning
but ultimately failing to publish it. In fact, many of the objects
in the book have never been published before. Focusing on the
contribution of Banks's often neglected artists--Sydney Parkinson,
Herman Diedrich Sporing, and Alexander Buchan, as well as the
priest Tupaia, who joined Endeavour in the Society Islands--none of
whom survived the mission, the surviving Endeavour voyage
illustrations are the most important body of images produced since
Europeans entered this region, matching the truly historic value of
the plant specimens and artifacts that will be seen alongside them.
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