We are delighted this week to announce representation of a new contributor collection, and one with a history dating back over 200 years.

The Geological Society has its origins in a series of meetings convened at the beginning of 1807 by four amateur mineral enthusiasts - physician William Babington, pharmaceutical chemist William Allen and the Quaker brothers William and Richard Phillips - to organize the publication of Jacques-Louis, Comte de Bournon's monograph on mineralogy. Meeting in Babington's house, the group, along with ten other friends who were also active in London's flourishing scientific scene, resolved to each contribute the sum of £50 to cover the cost of the monograph's publication. (Published in the three volumes as 'Traité complet de la Chaux Carbonatée et de l'Arragonite' in 1808).

Having enjoyed the meetings so much, many of the group continued to hold mineralogical discussions at Babington's house in Aldermanbury, London, usually at the ungodly hour of 7am before the physician began his rounds at Guy's Hospital. Other interested parties also joined the meetings and on the 13 November 1807, the new society was inaugurated at a dinner at the Freemasons Tavern, Great Queen Street, Covent Garden (the meetings being moved from breakfast to dinner time, at the sensible suggestion of Humphry Davy).

The minutes of the meeting record that there were thirteen founder members, who afterwards concluded: 'That there be forthwith instituted a Geological Society for the purpose of making geologists acquainted with each other, of stimulating their zeal, of inducing them to adopt one nomenclature, of facilitating the communications of new facts and of ascertaining what is known in their science and what remains to be discovered.'

Today based at Burlington House, The Geological Society's collection spans natural disasters, the development of geology, industrial revolution, palaeontology, exploration, mapping, plate tectonics and continental drift. Consequently, the first 588 pictures (there are more to come) are a fascinating and eclectic mix, including images of Vesuvius erupting in 1794, a striking, hand-coloured lithograph of a dodo, and a portrait of and pictures relating to 19th century fossil hunter extraordinaire, Mary Anning. Click here to view The Geological Society collection, now available for licensing.

Whatever you're working on, do get in touch if we can help. You can reach us either by emailing [email protected] or by calling 020 8318 0034.