Robert Gordon, François Levaillant and early South African scientific collaboration

This article explores an example of scientific collaboration in 18th-century South Africa when French explorer and ornithologist François Levaillant (born Vaillant, also written Le Vaillant and LeVaillant) (1752–1824) collaborated with Dutch East India Company military official Robert Gordon (1743–1795). Levaillant drew heavily on Gordon’s prior exploration of the Cape interior and used some of Gordon’s botanical illustrations, but this article focuses on Levaillant’s annotations of Gordon’s bird illustrations. This article examines what Levaillant may have learnt from Gordon and Gordon’s illustrator Schumacher and how this influenced his work and career, shedding light on how Levaillant moved from being a fieldworker, bird trader and collector to an author and ornithological authority.