Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 March 2015
InA Hole in the Heavens, the history of Cyrene which he had under preparation at the time of his death, and now published in its unfinished state in his memorial volume, Richard Goodchild, writing about the Beechey Brothers expedition to Libya in 1821–2, stated “Unfortunately a large number of their drawings had to be omitted from the published volume for reasons of economy, and if these unpublished drawings still exist, their present whereabouts are not known”. Further on, on the same page, Goodchild added “The modern investigator of ancient Cyrene would gladly sacrifice nine-tenths of the Beecheys' narrative in return for those plans and drawings which were omitted from the published report”. A small packet of some of these plans and drawings has come to light in the library of the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities of the British Museum; it is not known how or when they were acquired. Which of the Beechey brothers was the main draughtsman of these documents is unclear: the packet is labelled “Wm. Beechey's Monus. of the Pentapolis Cyrenaica — Africa”; one brother was Frederick William and the other was Henry William. Most of the drawings are plans, and it seems that Frederick Beechey was more concerned with that aspect of che work than his more artistically inclined brother.