Bernard Quaritch was born in a village outside Göttingen, Germany. After first working for booksellers in Nordhausen and Berlin, he travelled to London in 1842, carrying a letter of introduction to Henry Bohn, the leading London bookseller. Quaritch was employed by Bohn until, in 1847, he set up his own business. Quaritch built up his business with an impressive clientele including those in this archive. He became lifelong friends with Edward Fitzgerald and published his translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in 1859. He continued in business until his death in 1899, when the business passed to his son, Bernard Alfred Quaritch.
For a more indepth biography see: Bernard Quaritch Ltd: Our History (https://www.quaritch.com/about/our-history/#:~:text=We%20have%20been%20buying%20and,London%20in%201842%2C%20aged%2023).
George Bennett was a student of New College, Oxford.
Benjamin Heyne was a botanist who joined the East India Service in 1793 being appointed as the Madras Presidency Botanist to Samalkot in British India in 1796. After the fall of Mysore, Heyne was ordered to accompany the Mysore Survey led by Colin Mackenzie on which Heyne worked as assistant to Francis Buchanan. Heyne was placed in charge of the Lalbagh botanical garden till 1812 and sent many specimens to London and to Albrecht Wilhelm Roth, the German botanist. Heyne died in Madras in 1819.