NEWS

Special Exhibition at the ICU Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum Banks' Florilegium from the ICU Library Collection: Plants of Madeira, Brazil, and Java

Update: April 16, 2026

A special exhibition titled "Banks' Florilegium from the ICU Library Collection: Plants of Madeira, Brazil, and Java" is currently being held at the Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum located on the ICU campus.

Banks' Florilegium is a botanical illustration collection produced under the direction of Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), who accompanied Captain Cook's first voyage of exploration from 1768 to 1771 as head of the scientific party. The work is based on plant specimens collected at ports of call, along with sketches and watercolor drawings created on-site by artists. Following Banks's return to England, preparations for the publication of Banks'Florilegium progressed between 1771 and 1784, including the engraving of original plates and the preparation of accompanying scholarly papers. However, due to various circumstances, the work was never published at that time. Two hundred years later, in the 1980s, a limited edition of 100 sets was finally printed using the original plates, in recognition of its significant academic value not only in botany but also in science and history. The International Christian University Library houses all 743 plates of Banks'Florilegium.

This exhibition is the eighth installment in a continuing series that has been presented at the Hachiro Yuasa Memorial Museum since 1996. In this edition, 64 hand-colored engravings depicting rare plants recorded on the volcanic island of Madeira in the North Atlantic, in Brazil in South America, and on the Indonesian island of Java are being shown to the public for the first time.

ICU HACHIRO YUASA MEMORIAL MUSEUM