Catalogue description Sabine, Sir Edward (1788-1883)

The items in this collection are concerned with ornithology. WMS/Amer.109 is a copy of part of William Bartram's work on North American birds, while WMS/Amer.110-111 comprise Sabine's own observations, respectively on the Niagara frontier of Canada and in the Arctic during Parry's 1819-1820 expedition in the Hecla.

The items are held in chronological order of composition.

MSS.7404 and 7486, collections of material relating to Polar explorers, contain some letters by Sabine.

Sabine, Edward, 1788-1883, knight, soldier and geophysicist

Purchased at Stevens', London, 1931 (accession number 83753).

WMS/Amer.109 comprises a copy of part of W. Bartram, Travels through North and South Carolina (London: J. Johnson, 1792).

• Arctic regions
• Ornythology
• Geographical exploration

Described in: Robin Price, An Annotated Catalogue of Medical Americana in the Library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1983).

Edward Sabine was born in 1788 and joined the Royal Artillery in 1803. While stationed on the Niagara frontier of Canada he began his studies into natural history, which were eventually to encompass ornithology, meteorology and the study of terrestrial magnetism. The latter study was his particular specialism and led to his attachment to the Arctic expeditions of John Ross (1777-1856) in the Isabella (1818) and Edward Parry (1790-1855) in the Hecla (1819-1820). During his long career he rose to be a General in the Royal Artillery, President of the Royal Society, Knight-Commander of the Bath and a member of the informal "Arctic Council" that advised the Admiralty on Polar exploration. He retired from the Army in 1877 and died in 1883.