The Leverian collection was a natural history and ethnographic collection assembled by
Ashton Lever. It was noted for the content it acquired from the voyages of Captain
James Cook. For three decades it was displayed in London, being broken up by auction in 1806.[1]
The first public location of the collection was the Holophusikon, also known as the Leverian Museum, at
Leicester House, on
Leicester Square, from 1775 to 1786. After it passed from Lever's ownership, it was displayed for nearly twenty years more at the purpose-built
Blackfriars Rotunda just across the Thames, sometimes called Parkinson's Museum for its subsequent owner, James Parkinson (c. 1730-1813).
At Alkrington
Lever collected fossils, shells, and animals (birds, insects, reptiles, fish, monkeys) for many years, accumulating a large collection at his home at
Alkrington, near
Manchester. He was swamped with visitors, whom he allowed to view his collection for free, so much so that he had to insist that visitors that arrived on foot would not be admitted. (In other words, only those who could afford a carriage or a riding horse were welcome.) He decided to exhibit the collection in London as a commercial venture, charging an entrance fee.[2]
At Leicester House
Lever acquired a lease of
Leicester House in 1774, converting the principal rooms on the first floor into a single large gallery running the length of the house, and opened his museum in February 1775, with around 25,000 exhibits (a small fraction of his collection) valued at over £40,000.[4][5] The display included many natural and ethnographic items gathered by Captain
James Cook on his voyages.[6] The museum took its name from its supposedly universal coverage of
natural history,[4] and was essentially a huge
cabinet of curiosities.
Lever charged an entry fee of 5s. 3d., or two
guineas for an annual ticket, and the museum had a degree of commercial success; the receipts in 1782 were £2,253.[4] In an effort to draw in the crowds, Lever later reduced the entrance fee to half a crown (2s. 6d.)[4][6] and was constantly looking for new exhibits. He also set out his exhibits to impress the visitor, as well as (unusually) including educational information. However, he spent more on new exhibits than he raised in entrance fees.
The British Museum and
Catherine II of Russia both refused to buy the collection, so Lever obtained an
Act of Parliament in 1784 to sell the whole by
lottery. He only sold 8,000 tickets at a guinea each – he had hoped to sell 36,000.[6]
The collection was acquired by
James Parkinson, a land agent and accountant.[4] It continued to be displayed at Leicester House until Lever's death in 1788, at a reduced entrance fee of one shilling.[6]
Parkinson transferred the Leverian collection to a purpose-built
Rotunda building, at what would later be No. 3
Blackfriars Road. Leicester House itself was demolished in 1791.[4][6]
A catalogue and guide was printed in 1790.[9] Parkinson also had
George Shaw write an illustrated scientific work;[10] the artists involved included
Philip Reinagle,
Charles Reuben Ryley,
William Skelton,
Sarah Stone, and
Sydenham Edwards.[11][12] Some of
John White's specimens were put on public display there for the first time.[13] The museum also served as a resource and opportunity for women:
Ellenor Fenn wrote A Short History of Insects (1796/7), for which the long title concludes as "a pocket companion to those who visit the Leverian Museum",[14] and a similar volume on quadrupeds; the artist Sarah Stone continued to work for Parkinson, as she had done for Lever.[15]
Parkinson had some success in getting naturalists to attend the museum, which was easier at the time to visit than the British Museum. A visitor in 1799,
Heinrich Friedrich Link, was complimentary.[16]
The contents of the museum are well recorded, from a catalogue of the museum created in 1784, and the sale catalogue in 1806, with a contemporary series of
watercolours of its contents by Sarah Stone.[19] There are also sale catalogue annotations allowing, for example, the counting of 37 lots bought by
Alexander Macleay.[20] The
Royal College of Surgeons bought 79 lots, and notes by
William Clift survive.[21] Purchases from the sale founded the
collection of Richard Cuming.[22] In all 7,879 lots were sold over 65 days.[23]
Surviving specimens and objects
The specimens purchased by
Edward Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby were bequeathed to the people of Liverpool upon his death in 1851 and were part of the founding collection of what is now
World Museum,
National Museums Liverpool.
Stanley bought approximately 117 mounted birds, representing some 96 species, at the auction in 1806.[24] 82 specimens still survived in 1812, 74 in 1823, and at least 29 in 1850. Among the present collections of
World Museum are 25 study skins (relaxed mounts) of 22 species recognized as having originated from the Leverian Sale. Nine are recognized as having been collected during the
second voyage of James Cook and
third voyage of James Cook.[25]
Black-spotted barbet, adult male, accession no. LIV D1466, Leverian lot no. 1039. The female specimen from the same lot (accession no. LIV D1466c) is lost.
European green woodpecker, adult, accession no. LIV D1324f, Leverian lot no. 1418. This specimen is the "white variety".
Orange-winged amazon, adult, accession no. LIV D682, Leverian lot no. 1514. This specimen was described as "Brasilian Yellow-fronted Parrot var. E" by Latham, 1781 (
Gen. Syn. 1 (1), p. 287).
Crested myna, adult, accession no. LIV D1504, Leverian lot no. 1757.
Common starling, adult, accession no. LIV D1417b, Leverian lot no. 3142. This specimen is albino and was described as "Var A, White Stare" by Latham, 1783 (
Gen. Syn. 2 (1), p. 3).
Greater ani, adult, accession no. LIV D4027d, Leverian lot no. 4092.
ʻŌʻū, adult male and female, accession nos. LIV D1829 and LIV D1829a, Leverian lot no. 5488. These specimens are
syntype specimens of Loxia psittacea Gmelin, 1789 (
Syst. Nat. 1 (2), p. 844) and was first described as "Parrot-billed grosbeak" by Latham, 1783 (
Gen. Syn. 2 (1), p. 108).
Chattering kingfisher, adult, accession no. LIV D2326, Leverian lot no. 5612. This specimen was collected during one of James Cook's voyages, but is of doubtful type significance.
Large-billed seed finch, adult, accession no. LIV D2005a, Leverian lot no. 47 (last day but one). 1106. This specimen is the
holotype specimen of Loxia regulus Shaw, 1792 (
Mus. Lev., p. 45), a forgery perpetrated by adding a false crest of red feathers to a large-billed seed finch specimen.
African swamphen, adult, accession no. LIV D1824, Leverian lot no. 23 (last day of the sale).
Several hundred specimens (the exact number being unknown) of birds are in the collection of the
Natural History Museum, Vienna.[26] This includes a specimen (number NMW 50.761) of the extinct
Lord Howe Swamphen.
A number of ethnographic objects survive in the collections of the British Museum.[27]
References
^Kaeppler, Adrienne L.(2011). Holophusicon: The Leverian Museum – An Eighteenth-Century English Institution of Science, Curiosity, and Art. Altenstadt, ZKF Publishers.
^A short history of insects, (extracted from works of credit) designed as an introduction to the study of that branch of natural history, and as a pocket companion to those who visit the Leverian Museum.;
WorldCat ref.
^Christa Knellwolf King, Frankenstein's Science: experimentation and discovery in Romantic culture, 1780-1830 (2008), p. 173;
Google Books.
^Palma, R.L. 1991. Two bird lice (Insecta: Phthiraptera) collected during Captain Cook's 2nd voyage around the world. Archives of Natural History, London, 18 (2): 237-247;
PDF at p. 244.