The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700

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James Reed ( - fl. 1690)

Alias James (Alias) Read
Alias James (Alias) Rheed

James Reed (also "Read" or "Rheed"), horticulturalist and Quaker, who undertook a sponsored year-long expedition to Barbados and the Madeira Islands in 1689-90, "returning (October, 1690) with more than a hundred seeds and plants, besides specimens of insects, birds, fishes, and reptiles" (Stearns, 291). The sponsors and recipients of these objects "evidently consisted of members of the Temple Coffee House Botany Club, probably guided by the initiative of [Courten]" (ibid.). James Petiver was also among the sponsors.

Courten's instructions to Reed for collecting naturalia in the West Indies, dated September 1689, are preserved in Sloane MS 3962, 188r-v. A list of seeds "gathered at Barbadoes for the Kings use by James Reed Gardner" are in the same ms, 83r-v. Leonard Plukenet "described Read as having been sent to the West Indies several times to gather plants for William Bentink (1649-1709), the Earl of Portland" (Kusukawa, 31, n.147, citing Plukenet, Phytographia, plate 238, no. 4).

According to Kusukawa, "Read also supplied objects to Hans Sloane, which are now in his ‘Vegetable Substances’ collection, Natural History Museum, London" (21, n.147), Relevant locations: Lived at or near London, England
Visited Barbados, West Indies
Visited Madeira Islands, Portugal
 Relationships: James Reed was a source of object(s) for William Bentink (1649-1709)
James Reed was a source of object(s) for William Courten (28 Mar 1642-26 Mar 1702)
James Reed was a source of object(s) for James II of England (1633-1701)
James Reed was a source of object(s) for James Petiver (c. 1665-Apr 1718)
James Reed was a unspecified Leonard Plukenet (1642-1706)
James Reed was a husband of Elizabeth Reed (fl. 1692-)
James Reed was a source of object(s) for Hans Sloane (1660-1753)
James Reed was a source of object(s) for William III of England (4 Nov 1650-8 Mar 1702)

 Linked manuscripts: as Mentioned or referenced by - Sloane 3962, British Library,
Linked print sources: as Mentions or references - Appendix I to 'William Courten's list of 'Things Bought' from the Late Seventeenth Century.
as Mentions or references - Dictionary Of British And Irish Botanists And Horticulturists Including Plant Collectors, Flower Painters and Garden Designers.
as Mentions or references - James Petiver: promoter of natural science, c.1663–1718.
as Mentions or references - Quaker Botanists.
 References in Documents:
Petiver, Musei Petiveriani (1695-1703) Pluk. 31. Adiantum nigrum Americanum foliis subtus albâ farinâ asperis. Adiant. Calomelanos Amer. seu Adnigr. foliis prona parte candidissimis Pluk. 124. fig. 3. an Ad. nigr. Amer. pulvere candidissimo asperum Breyn. Cent. 1. p. 190? Rheed's fair black Maidenhair. This elegant Plant was gathered at Barbadoes by James Rheed. I also remember to have seen it amongst Dr. Sloans most curious Collection of Jamaica-Ferns.
Petiver, Musei Petiveriani (1695-1703) 755. Capillaris Barbadensis, pinnulis quadratis. Adiantum nigrum minus non ramosum, pinnulis majoribus crassis Trapezii in modum figuratis. Cat. Plant. Jam. 21. James Rheed brought this first from Barbadoes.