ABSTRACT
The collection of Sarah Sophia Banks can be viewed as a working reference collection that conveys her engagement with society and the commercial texts and aesthetics of a wider print culture. This chapter demonstrates that Sarah Sophia was an active collector in her own right, and to regard her projects as mere offshoots of her brother's ventures would be to grossly underestimate their independent importance. Focusing on Sarah Sophia's collection of printed materials alongside the aforementioned inventory, it explores Sarah Sophia's complex and innovative collecting practices and methodologies. Although Sarah Sophia clearly capitalized on her brother's cosmopolitan network, various visiting cards, fashion plates and admission tickets from her collection feature annotations that reveal she also exchanged items through her own connections. Snipping, sorting and sticking a broad range of graphic material between sheets of paper not only provided her with a means to store and manage the collection; it enabled her to unite systematic knowledge with aesthetic and social pleasures.
