LIFE AND CHARACTER 19 



books he read must come next in importance only to the influ- 

 ence of his father and of Quaker ideals generally. It is not an 

 easy matter to trace the books he read. The books which had 

 belonged to the Bartram family and are now in the Bartram 

 Memorial Library at the University of Pennsylvania and in the 

 library of the Pennsylvania Historical Society °^ do not all show 

 by which member of the family they were acquired. It is plau- 

 sible to assume that books acquired by John Bartram were read 

 by William Bartram. The father was a voracious reader and 

 his letters to Collinson contain numerous requests for books, so 

 numerous, in fact, that Collinson felt impelled at one time to 

 hint to him that Solomon had not obtained all his wisdom from 

 books, to which hint John Bartram replied: " I take thy advice 

 about books very kindly, — although I love reading dearly: and 

 I believe, if Solomon had loved women less, and books more, he 

 would have been a wiser and a happier man than he was." ®^ 



Yet Collinson sent his American correspondent many books 

 and he interested other European scientists in John Bartram' s 

 needs. He sent him scientific books such as Sir Hans Sloane's 

 Natural History of Jamaica, and books "" to replenish thy inner 

 man," ^^ such as Robert Barclay's Apology for the Quakers. 

 Mark Catesby sent him a copy of his History of American Birds; 

 Dillenius his History of Mosses; Linnaeus his Systema Naturae 

 and Characteres PI ant arum; Gronovius his Index Lapideae and 

 his Flora Virginica. Besides these volumes, some of the books 

 in the Pennsylvania Historical Society collection bear John Bar- 

 tram's signature, among them a number of books on surgery — 

 which it is doubtful that William Bartram ever read ^^ — and a 

 volume of the Spectator papers.^" 



""The Bartram Library." The Philadelphia Public Ledger, September 11, 

 1891. About one hundred volumes were donated to the Penn. Hist. Society by 

 William Middleton Bartram, a great-great-grandson of John Bartram. 



'^''Memorials, p. 119. Letter to Collinson dated May, 1738. 



^^ Memorials, p. 153. Letter from Collinson dated March 3, 1741-2. 



'° " He longs to be with thee; but it is more for the sake of Botany than 

 Physic or Surgery, neither of which he seems to have any delight in. I have 

 several books of both; but can't persuade him to read a page in either. Botany 

 and drawing are his delight. . . ." Letter of John Bartram to Dr. Alexander 

 Garden, Charleston, S. C, March l4, 1756. Memorials, p. 392. 



'" Vol. VIL Glasgow, 1767. 



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