Celia Rosser's Banksias

This month’s featured item is a masterpiece of botanical illustration, and one of the Society’s most physically imposing objects. It is also among our most travelled, having embarked on a journey of over 9,500 miles to reach our library in May of this year.

Celia Rosser’s illustrations of the genus Banksia are widely considered among the finest botanical illustrations produced in the 20^th century, with former President of the Linnean Society William T. Stearn declaring them “the finest botanical illustrations produced in Australia by an Australian”. Rosser, a former fashion artist turned botanical illustrator, began the project upon her appointment as University Botanical Artist at Monash in 1974, and would work on the genus for the next 25 years. The resulting three volume set, with accompanying text by Alex George, was finally completed in the year 2000.

The 170-odd members of the Banksia genus have become emblematic of the unique flora of Australia, and have strong historic connections with the Linnean Society. Specimens were first collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander as part of James Cook’s 1768 Endeavour voyage to the Pacific, and were formally named by Carl Linnaeus Jnr. (Carl Linnaeus’ son) in his Supplementum Plantarum of 1782. The fine Banksia serrata specimen in the Linnean Society's Smith Herbarium is almost certainly Linnaeus filius’, and bears a striking resemblance to the equivalent plate in Rosser’s survey.

The copies of Rosser's Banksias held by the Society are doubly special because of their close association with Monash University, where Rosser worked for so many decades and where the grand project was born. Our copies were formerly the property of Martin Canny, erstwhile Professor of Botany at Monash, and a colleague of Rosser’s. The very low limited-edition number associated with our copies—4 of 720—suggest a presentation set.

Our copies are also remarkable for their winding journey to our shelves. Following Professor Canny’s death in 2013, the books passed to Anne E. Ashford and William G. Allaway, two members of the Linnean Society who graciously donated them to our library in May of this year. The 9,500 mile journey from Australia to the UK by road and air-freight was a minor feat of planning and logisitics, and we are very grateful to both donors for their patience in seeing these magnificent books shepherded to their new home. We hope they will provide a source of inspiration and instruction for scholars, students and the public for many generations to come.

Will Beharrell FLS, Librarian