[Hirudo crenata]

Very rare engraving of a leech from volume two, of the Transactions of the Linnean Society, published in 1794.

The Linnean Society was founded in 1788 by botanist Sir James Edward Smith. The society takes its name from the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus, the ‘father of taxonomy’, who systematised biological classification through his binomial nomenclature. The inception of the society was the direct result of the purchase by Sir James Edward Smith of the specimen, book and correspondence collections of Carl Linnaeus. When the collection was offered for sale by Linnaeus’s heirs, Smith was urged to acquire it by Sir Joseph Banks, the eminent botanist and president of the Royal Society. Five years after this purchase Banks gave Smith his full support in founding the Linnean Society, and became one of its first Honorary Members.

The Linnean Society began its extensive series of publications on 13 August 1791, when Volume I of  the Transactions was produced.

From: Transactions of the Linnean Society. London

Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID: 2152681 Vol. 1 (1791)-v. 30 (1875)
State Library New South Wales: Record Identifier 74VKVEXqXl2Z (1791-1802) (Vol. 1-Vol. 6)
State Library Victoria: RARES 570.6 L64T Vol. 1 (1791)-v. 30 (1875).