Provenance note 

Many of the documents in this series were previously located at ML MSS 743/1, 2 or 3. Documents 6, 11-12, 24-27, 33-35, 99-105, 109, 112-120, 123, 129-133, 137, 145, 187-190 and 195, previously located at ML MSS 743/1, were acquired for the Mitchell Library from the London bookseller Francis Edwards in December 1946. 

Documents 4, 86, 94, 126, 193-194 and 196 previously located at ML MSS 743/2, were acquired for the Library from Maggs Brothers in London, in December 1946. 

Document 28, previously located at ML MSS 743/3, was acquired for the Library from Angus & Robertson in December 1933. 

Other documents in this series were purchased in 1884 from Lord Brabourne by Sir Saul Samuel, the Agent-General for New South Wales. They were transferred to the Mitchell Library in 1910 and were part of the accession which became known as the Brabourne collection. 

These include documents 82-84 previously located at ML A78-2; document 98 previously located at ML A78-3; document 144 previously located at ML A79-2; documents 30, 62, 88, 92-93, 186 and 197 previously located at ML A79 -3; documents 8, 56-61 and 127 previously located at ML A 80-1; and documents 2-3, 14-16, 20-23, 31-32, 66, 135, 139-140 previously located at ML A80-2. 

Still other documents are part of an accession of Banks papers purchased by the Public Library of New South Wales from Sotheby's, London, in May 1929. These include documents 67-77, 89-90, 125 and 128 previously located at ML A81; documents 5, 7, 9, 18-19, 29, 65, 78-81, 91, 95, 106, 110 and 138 previously located at ML A82; and documents 97 and 184-185 previously located at ML A83. 

Documents 107-108, previously located at ML C180, were acquired for the Library from Angus & Robertson in December 1912. 

Documents 1, 10, 85, 87, 122, 141 and 191-192 previously located at ML C181, were acquired from Angus & Robertson in February 1911. 

Document 96, previously located at ML Ah 41/5, was acquired from J. & R. Lawson in November 1945. 

Document 182, previously located at ML As 24/1, and document 183, previously located at ML As 24/2, were acquired from an unknown source. Documents 178-181, previously located at ML As 24/3, were acquired from Maggs Brothers of London in December 1946. 

Document 136, previously located at ML A11, was part of the collection of David Scott Mitchell which was bequeathed to the State Library of New South Wales by Mitchell in July 1907. 

Document 111, previously located at ML B1124, was presented to the Chancellor of Sydney University by the President and Fellows of Yale University in February 1947. It was then presented to the Mitchell Library. 

Document 134, previously located at ML Doc 1120, was acquired fro the Library from W.A. Myers in July 1967. 

The remaining documents in this series were 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. These include documents 13, 17, 63-64, 124, 142 and 177 previously located at DL MSQ 158; and document 176 previously located at DL Q78/9. 

Many letters in this series include the original folio number assigned by Banks, written in ink in an unknown hand in the top right hand corner. 

It is now not possible to reconstruct Banks' original arrangement. The series has therefore been arranged alphabetically by correspondent's name. 

Background note 

Banks received a mass of correspondence from a diverse range of people, discussing an equally diverse range of topics. His correspondence was generally well organised though the subsequent dispersal of his papers means this cannot be reconstructed. 

His many correspondents include William Townsend Aiton, John Allen, George Bass, John Lewis Burckhardt, Charles Burney, David Collins, J.A. Currie, James Dickson, Jonas Dryander, Thomas Earnshaw, Johann Reinhold Forster, John Fothergill, Robert Fulke Greville, William Harvey, Lord Hawkesbury, Horticultural Society, Anna Josepha King, Thomas Andrew Knight, Jacques Julien de Labillardiere, Sir James Lahe, Archibald Lee, John Linton, Andrew Lumisden, Evan Nepean, Thomas Pennant, Duchess of Portland, Duke of Portland, Nathaniel Portlock, John Sibthorp, James Edward Smith, Daniel Solander and Marmaduke Tunstall.