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British mycologists 5. J sowerby (1757–1822)
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BRITISH MYCOLOGISTS: J SOWERBY (1757-1822)
5.
James Sowerby is especially remembered by mycologists for one work, his Coloured Figures of English Fungi or Mushrooms, comprising 440 hand-coloured engravings, together with the text by the artist, in three folio volumes and a supplement, issued in parts between 1795 and 1815, and still the most beautiful set of illustrations of the larger fungi of this country. James Sowerby was born in London, trained as an artist, and became a teacher of drawing and a portrait painter. His interest in natural history and his drawings of flowers in particular led him to illustrate many diverse books on natural history of which the most famous is J E Smith's English Botany (1790-1814) with its 2500 hand-coloured plates, but his interests were wide and he also produced illustrated works on mineralogy and fossil shells. The Figures of English Fungi was intended as a supplement to English Botany, which included illustrations of algae and lichens but not fungi, and to supplement the
illustrations Sowerby prepared some 200 models of the larger edible and poisonous fungi which he exhibited in his house in Lambeth and opened to the public, free of charge, two days each month. These models were later acquired and exhibited at the British Museum (Natural History) and were the basis of the well-known Museum handbooks by Worthington G Smith and John Ramsbottom. During the closing years of the eighteenth century and the early years of the nineteenth, fungal decay of warships became a major naval problem both of ships in service and even under construction. Sowerby was called on for advice (as some years later was the Rev M J Berkeley) when he made various recommendations including the procedure for stacking stocks of timber in naval dockyards. James Sowerby had nine children. The production of hand-coloured plates developed into a business involving the whole family of which several members became botanical artists. The children were employed in colouring the plates. Plates were often both printed and coloured according to demand so that some of the early figures of English fungi, for example, are printed on paper watermarked ten years later than the date engraved on the plate. Although Sowerby's descendants provided illustrations for a phenomenal number of works on natural history the only two mycological contributions were by his grandsons James (1815-34) who wrote The Mushrooms and Champignons Illustrated, 1832, and John Edward (1825-70) who illustrated M C Cooke's Rust, Smut, Mildew and Mould, 1865. For details of the Sowerby family, a list of the works they illustrated, etc., see Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History 6: 380-559 (1974). G C Ainsworth
BRITISH MYCOLOGISTS: J SOWERBY (1757-1822)
5.
James Sowerby is especially remembered by mycologists for one work, his Coloured Figures of English Fungi or Mushrooms, comprising 440 hand-coloured engravings, together with the text by the artist, in three folio volumes and a supplement, issued in parts between 1795 and 1815, and still the most beautiful set of illustrations of the larger fungi of this country. James Sowerby was born in London, trained as an artist, and became a teacher of drawing and a portrait painter. His interest in natural history and his drawings of flowers in particular led him to illustrate many diverse books on natural history of which the most famous is J E Smith's English Botany (1790-1814) with its 2500 hand-coloured plates, but his interests were wide and he also produced illustrated works on mineralogy and fossil shells. The Figures of English Fungi was intended as a supplement to English Botany, which included illustrations of algae and lichens but not fungi, and to supplement the
illustrations Sowerby prepared some 200 models of the larger edible and poisonous fungi which he exhibited in his house in Lambeth and opened to the public, free of charge, two days each month. These models were later acquired and exhibited at the British Museum (Natural History) and were the basis of the well-known Museum handbooks by Worthington G Smith and John Ramsbottom. During the closing years of the eighteenth century and the early years of the nineteenth, fungal decay of warships became a major naval problem both of ships in service and even under construction. Sowerby was called on for advice (as some years later was the Rev M J Berkeley) when he made various recommendations including the procedure for stacking stocks of timber in naval dockyards. James Sowerby had nine children. The production of hand-coloured plates developed into a business involving the whole family of which several members became botanical artists. The children were employed in colouring the plates. Plates were often both printed and coloured according to demand so that some of the early figures of English fungi, for example, are printed on paper watermarked ten years later than the date engraved on the plate. Although Sowerby's descendants provided illustrations for a phenomenal number of works on natural history the only two mycological contributions were by his grandsons James (1815-34) who wrote The Mushrooms and Champignons Illustrated, 1832, and John Edward (1825-70) who illustrated M C Cooke's Rust, Smut, Mildew and Mould, 1865. For details of the Sowerby family, a list of the works they illustrated, etc., see Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History 6: 380-559 (1974). G C Ainsworth