Fresh Ink: Collecting the World by James Delbourgo

Congratulations to former fellow James Delbourgo (Paul W. McQuillen Memorial Fellow, 2001-02) for the publication of his book, Collecting the World: Hans Sloane and the Origins of the British Museum (Harvard University Press, 2017). Sloane was a wealthy collector of a world of objects and people, including slaves. His marriage to the heir of sugar plantations in Jamaica gave Sloane access to the experiences of planters and the folkways of their human property. He established a network of agents to supply artifacts from China, India, North America, the Caribbean, and beyond. This work offers a new perspective on the complex relationship between global scientific discovery and imperialism in the eighteenth century.