Provenance note 

Documents 1 and 4 in this series were previously located at ML C181. They were acquired for the Library from Angus & Robertson in February 1911. 

Document 2, previously located at ML MSS 743/3, was acquired for the Library from Angus & Robertson in December 1933. Document 7, previously located at ML MSS 743/2, was acquired for the Library from Maggs Brothers in London, in December 1946. 

Documents 3, 5 and 8, previously located at ML A80-2, were purchased in 1884 from Lord Brabourne by Sir Saul Samuel, the Agent-General for New South Wales, and transferred to the Mitchell Library in 1910. They were part of the accession which became known as the Brabourne collection. 

Document 6, previously located at DL MS Q158, was part of the personal library of Sir William Dixson which was bequeathed to the State Library of New South Wales in 1952. Dixson's bequest was formally handed over when the Dixson Library was opened in 1959. 

Background note 

Sir Joseph Banks did not write or publish extensively. The list of publications which appeared under his name is brief. He was however, a diligent writer of correspondence, reports, instructions, thoughts, notes and ideas throughout most of his life. Both his own writings, as well as reports and accounts written for his information, official and unofficial, reflect the range and diversity of his interests and activity.