That Patrick O'Brian would write a good book about the early life of Joseph Banks was to be expected. Banks combined the enthusiasm and practical competence of one of O'Brian's fictional heroes, Jack Aubrey, with the passion for natural history of another, Stephen Maturin. Moreover O'Brian's accounts in his novels of 18th-century seamanship are, like Tolstoy's battle pieces, better historical description than most historians manage: it was clear that the variety of incident in Banks's voyage to the Great South Sea with Cook, which matches that of any fictional adventure, was a subject made for him. What was not so obvious was that Sir Joseph's long years of official business, as President of the Royal Society and member of various boards and committees, would be made, if anything, more interesting than the excitements of young Banks's few years of active exploration. The book, like Reynolds's picture of Banks in his twenties, which O'Brian much admires, is an attractive portrait. It is continuously interesting and coloured by the cheerfulness of a lucky subject.

LRB 7 May 1987 | PDF Download