I met up with Mark Spencer, keeper of the Sloane Collection. Wow, this is incredible. How are you doing? Very well, thank you. Hello. Look, it's amazing. How many volumes have you got? There are about 260 volumes belonging to. In 1687, Hans Sloane joined a ship heading to the West Indies. He collected and studied everything he could find, including many species new to science. On the death of Sir Hans Sloane in 1753, he bequeathed his collections, which were huge, to the nation, and they form the basis of this museum, the British Library, and the British Museum in Bloomsbury, so they're of international importance. So why did he make these collections? Sloane was really going out into the world partly to go actually and see his slave plantations which he'd just inherited in Jamaica, but also to really look at the world. He was fascinated in nature and natural history, he'd already been collecting plant specimens in England when he was a younger man, so it really was in his blood. But it was also done for hard reasons, he was out to make a living and to make his reputation. We're really looking, one, at a fantastic collection, but really the heart of the museum.


我约见了马克·斯宾塞，斯隆收藏的管理员。 这太惊人了，你好吗？ 很好，谢谢你。你好。 令人惊叹，这里一共有多少册藏品？ 大约有260册属于1687年，汉斯·斯隆登上了一条开往西印度群岛的船。他将所见之物一一收集并研究，其中包括许多未有科学记载的新物种。1753年汉斯·斯隆爵士去世后，他将自己的大量藏品赠予国家，而这些藏品也是本博物馆——大英图书馆，以及卢布姆斯伯里的大英博物馆的创立之基。所以它们影响全球。 那他为什么要做这些收藏呢？ 斯隆真真正正地走出了国门，一部分是去看他刚在牙买加继承的奴隶农园，同时也是去观赏大千世界。他醉心于自然和自然历史。早年他就已经在英格兰收集植物标本了，所以这确实是他与生俱来的兴趣。但也有一些不得已的原因，他需要维持生计并树立声誉。一份了不起的收藏正在我们眼前，而它也是本博物馆之心。 绝对是，而且是颗绝妙的心。