The Library's Linnaean collection is due chiefly to the efforts of Basil H Soulsby (1864–1933) who took charge of the Museum's General Library in 1920. By the time he retired 10 years later, Soulsby ...

In 1736, on a visit to the house of the botanist Johannes Burman (1706-1779), Clifford was introduced to an up-and-coming young Swedish botanist, Carl Linnaeus, who was living and working there.