Edward Wesley Janson


Edward Wesley Janson was an English entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera.
The Janson family was of Dutch origin and Edward Wesley Janson's father was the London Agent of the Dutch Rhenish Railway Company.
A keen entomologist Janson was elected a Fellow of the Entomological Society of London in 1843. In 1850 he was appointed Curator of the collections of the Society a post he held until 1863. Then he became Librarian until 1874.
He started up his natural history business in 1852 selling books and specimens. He also became a publisher, first initiating the Journal of Entomology, then Cistula Entomologica, Curtis's British Entomology.
Janson also assembled a collection of world Elateridae "It consists of 25,000 specimens of which at least 1000 are original types. Janson purchased the collection of this family made by M. Candeze, and which was the basis of his monograph. He also bought a second collection formed by Candeze, and he possessed according to a note found anmongst his papers the collections of Latreille, Dejean, Buquet, Reiche, Laferte, Gory, Parry, Deyrolle, Schaum, Bakewell, W.W. Saunders, Mniszech, E. Brown, A. Murray, H. Clark, and Atkinson. He also had large series of specimens collected by Wallace, Bates, Buckley etc. "
The Janson company archive is conserved in the Natural History Museum, London