Legacy of renowned botanist lives on in archive storage box

Daniel Charles Solander (1736-1782) was a renowned Swedish botanist who came to England on the advice of his tutor Linnaeus to become Assistant Librarian, and afterwards Keeper of Printed Books, at the British Museum. He also travelled on the ‘Endeavour’ with Captain Cook on his expedition to the Pacific. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and acted as Secretary and Librarian to Sir Joseph Banks, the eminent scientist.

Although unsuccessful attempts were made to commemorate his name his legacy lives on in the useful book-form box he designed. The Solander box is still considered the most satisfactory case for storing and viewing prints.

The Solander box is a fine example of the range of traditional hand made products from Bletchley-based G. Ryder & Co. Ltd, the UK’s leading manufacturer of handmade archival and luxury boxes, and it is still considered the most satisfactory case for storing and viewing prints.

G. Ryder & Co. Ltd. was founded in the City of London in 1914 by Gerard Ryder. The company started life as a manufacturer of boxes and letter files and the first order, half a gross of letter files,was hand delivered by Gerard himself using a wheelbarrow for transport.

In the late 1940s many manufacturers began using automated box production but G. Ryder continued to make everything by hand preferring to maintain growth by producing quality bespoke products. In 1956 the company acquired additional premises in Bletchley and by the early 1970s the entire company had relocated to the Buckinghamshire town.

Today the company is still producing the finest handmade boxes for our leading galleries, museums and institutions in addition to a vast range of bespoke boxes for leading luxury brand designers and manufacturers

The company's Solander boxes are handmade and incorporate the latest archival materials in order to create an acid-free environment to protect the contents.

The Supreme is made with a plywood frame, an acid-free archival standard boxboard top, bottom and shoulders, lined throughout with acid-free paper and finally covered in fine Library Buckram. The design also incorporates a polythene barrier between the plywood frame and the acid-free shoulder. A card holder is also fitted to the spine.

The Denbigh similar to the Supreme but the Denbigh is lined throughout with ‘Benchkote’ paper backed polythene.

As all boxes are handmade to order they can also be customised with Attache fasteners and other accessories as required

You can find the full range and further information at www.ryderbox.co.uk