In order to understand Sloane’s collecting passions, it is important to learn about Sloane’s background and to gain a broad overview of his life and the context in which he was living.

Brooks, Eric, St John, (1954) Sir Hans Sloane: the great collector and his circle. Batchworth Press, London.

De Beer, G., (1953) Sir Hans Sloane and the British Museum. London.

Delbourgo, James (2017), Collecting the World. The Life and Curiosity of Hans Sloane. Penguin Random House Press, UK.

MacGregor, Arthur (1994), ed. Sir Hans Sloane. Collector, Scientist, Antiquarian. The British Museum Press, London.

MacGregor, Arthur (2004) Sloane, Sir Hans, Baronet (1660-1753). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Sloan, Kim, and Burnett, Andrew (2003) Enlightenment. Discovering the World in the Eighteenth Century. The British Museum Press, London.

Thompson, W.W.D., (1938) ‘Some aspects of the life and times of Sir Hans Sloane.’ The Ulster Medical Journal, 7:1, pp.1–17.

Walker, Alison, Arthur MacGregor, Michael Hunter, eds, From Books to Bezoars: Sir Hans Sloane and his Collections. The British Library, London.