This wonderful letter by Banks is a rare example of any of his correspondence directly relating to Cook still in private hands.

This wonderful letter by Banks is a rare example of any of his correspondence directly relating to Cook still in private hands.

Banks here effectively signs off on the production of the Royal Society medal (and confirms his central involvement in its design), writing that "Mr. Pingo has executed the Commission which at your desire he undertook very much to my satisfaction. I should be obliged to you if you could take the trouble of informing me what sort of a Present you think should be made to him by the Society".

Although not explicitly named in the letter, we now believe the recipient was most likely Joseph Planta, a well-known antiquary who worked for many years at the British Museum. Stating that the medal had been commissioned "at your desire," the letter must have been addressed to one of the two secretaries of the Royal Society who, as the historian of the medal's production L. Richard Smith has commented, had given Pingo the job. Banks had a very thick skin, but it is hard to believe even he could have written so politely and helpfully to the other secretary, Paul Henry Maty, who was then openly canvassing for Banks for be forced out of the Presidency of the Society and who, unsuccessful in his bid, would himself resign in March 1784.

On balance, Planta is also a more natural fit, not only because he was pro-Banks in the squabble, but because the more antiquarian content of the rest of the letter, which records Banks's research into family history and armorial queries from St. Martin's Church in Lincoln (not far from Banks's house, Revesby Abbey), is very much in keeping with Planta's interests. More, Planta must have been heavily involved in the production as he was presented with one of the gold examples as thanks from the Society in June, a rare and very telling honour given that most went to grandees across Europe.

Banks was the driving force behind the entire project to coincide with the 'publication of the narrative of the tragic third voyage' (H.B. Carter, Sir Joseph Banks, 1988, p. 168).

The letter has a storied provenance: it was first recorded in a bookseller's catalogue as long ago as 1935, by mid-century was one of the treasures of the library of the Australian collector George Mackaness, later belonged to Rodney Davidson, and was only relatively recently catalogued by us as part of the collection of Robert Parks (2009).

The letter reads:

"Dear Sir

Enclosed you receive a Copy of the Church notes you desired. I find the Arms of Bowet among many quarterings on the tomb of a Grantham in St. Martin's Church Lincoln.

Mr. Pingo has executed the Commission which at your desire he undertook very much to my satisfaction. I should be obliged to you if you could take the trouble of informing me what sort of a Present you think should be made to him by the Society.

Your faithfully

Jos. Banks

As you have communicated to Dr Dacre your knowledge of the Bowet family I have no longer any occasion to trouble you on that head."

Perhaps the references in the letter to the Grantham tomb in Lincoln, to the "arms of Bowet", and one Dr Dacre might ultimately allow someone to confirm the hypothesis that the letter was sent to Joseph Planta. Interestingly, a decade later Planta was a driving force behind the design and manufacture of the Society's Rumford Medal, underscoring his expertise.