James Bolton

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For other people named James Bolton, see James Bolton (disambiguation).

James Bolton
fungi
Scientific career
FieldsNatural history
Author abbrev. (botany)Bolton

James Bolton (1735 – 7 January 1799) was an English

mycologist, and illustrator
.

Background

James Bolton was born near

publican in his home village of Warley.[1] He married Sarah Blackburn in 1768 and the couple had four children. He and his family lived all their lives in the Halifax area.[2]

James and his older brother, Thomas Bolton (1722–1778), were keen naturalists, Thomas having a particular interest in

Cordulegaster boltonii after a specimen collected by Thomas Bolton.[3] The two brothers contributed to the natural history section in The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax in Yorkshire, published in 1775 by John Watson.[2]
James Bolton subsequently developed his interest further by writing or illustrating a number of important natural history books.

Ferns and flowering plants

In 1785, Bolton provided the illustrations for Richard Relhan's Flora Cantabrigiensis. In the same year, he also published the first of his own works, part one of Filices Britannicae, an illustrated account of British ferns in two volumes. James Bolton not only drew the illustrations, but etched them himself. Moreover, he did not merely collate existing information on ferns, but undertook original research and field work. The book includes a description and illustration of a new fern species, now known as Woodsia alpina (Bolton) Gray. At this time, Bolton was commissioned by the wealthy Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland (1715–1785) to illustrate plants in her museum collection.[1]

James Bolton's additional illustrations of native and exotic flowering plants were never published. A number of his original watercolours, however, are extant, including Fifty Flowers Drawn from Nature at Halifax (1785–1787) at the

Liverpool Museum,[5] and a collection of botanical paintings in the Lindley Library at the Royal Horticultural Society
.

In 1788 the genus

Compositae) was named in his honour by Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle.[2]

Fungi

Bolton's chief interest was in

Gymnopus peronatus (Bolton) P. Kumm., the inkcap Coprinellus domesticus (Bolton) Vilgalys et al., the Cramp Ball Daldinia concentrica (Bolton) Ces. & De Not., the bracket Daedaleopsis confragosa (Bolton) J. Schröt., the agaric Lepiota cristata (Bolton) P. Kumm., and the Fairy-Ring Champignon Marasmius oreades (Bolton) Fr.[7][8]
The book was translated into German, as Geschichte der merkwürdigsten Pilze, and published in four volumes (1795–1820) with notes by Willdenow.

An additional album of 233 unpublished paintings of fungi, known as Icones fungorum circa Halifax nascentium, is held in the Special Collections Library of the United States Department of Agriculture. A collection of 36 "fungi illustrations" (c. 1780) is also held at the Natural History Museum[4] and some additional sketches are in the library of the Earl of Derby at Knowsley Hall.[1]

Few of Bolton's fungal collections survive, but some of his specimens are in the mycological herbarium at the

Sunderland Museum.[10]

Songbirds

Bolton's final published work was Harmonia ruralis, an "essay towards a natural history of British songbirds", issued in two volumes (1794–6). Birds and their nests were drawn from life, whilst the text contained many of Bolton's first-hand observations. The popularity of the subject matter led to two subsequent but posthumous editions in 1830 and 1845.

Works

An History of Fungusses (1795 German edition)
  • Filices britannicae. Leeds: John Binns. 1785.
  • An History of Fungusses, Groving About Halifax, 4 voll., Huddersfield, 1788–1791.

James Bolton today

An exhibition devoted to James Bolton and his works was held at the Liverpool Museum in 1995-6[11] and he was one of the artists featured in the Nature Observed exhibition at the University of London in 2006.[12] Bolton's fern and fungi books, with their descriptions of new species, remain of scientific value today, whilst his bird studies from Harmonia ruralis have retained their attraction – and have been reproduced as prints, on table mats and coasters,[13] and even on tea towels.[14]

Further reading

  • Edmondson, J. (1995). James Bolton of Halifax. Liverpool: National Museums & Galleries
The standard author abbreviation Bolton is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Edmondson, J. (1995) New insights into James Bolton of Halifax. Mycologist 9: 174-178
  2. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2803. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  3. better source needed
    ]
  4. ^ a b "Original Art – James Bolton (1735-1799) collection of 50 flowers drawn from nature, at Halifax". nhm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  5. ^ "Zoology collection – World Museum, Liverpool museums". Liverpoolmuseums.org.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  6. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.5394
    .
  7. ^ a b Bolton, J. (1788). An History of Fungusses growing about Halifax. Vol. 1. Vol. 1. Printed for the author and sold in Halifax by him. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  8. ^ "Search Page". Index Fungorum. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  9. ^ Roberts, P.J. & Legon, N.W. (2003). Fungal specimens of James Bolton at Kew. Kew Bulletin 58: 759-761
  10. ^ Legg, A. W. (1997). The significance of Edward Robson's fungal herbarium – a provisional assessment. The Vasculum 82: 69-88
  11. ^ "James Bolton of Halifax". Fungus.org.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
  12. ^ [1] Archived 1 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ "Invalid Characters". Museumselection.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2014.[permanent dead link]
  14. ^ [2] [dead link]
  15. ^ International Plant Names Index.  Bolton.
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