Voyages of Discovery: A Visual Celebration of Ten of the Greatest Natural History Expeditions

A rare and beautiful selection of works handpicked from the vast archives of London's Natural History Museum.

The book's greatest contribution is to showcase the work of the artists who, usually under very difficult circumstances, so brilliantly served science and opened Western eyes to new worlds. - School Library Journal (on the original edition)

Voyages of Discovery is a mesmerizing visual survey of the most significant discoveries in the history of natural science exploration. Superb artwork and photographs spanning three centuries document landmark advances made in the field and bring to life the fascinating stories of the explorers, naturalists, artists and photographers.

The book is fully illustrated in color with informative text and captions. Highlights include: Sir Hans Sloane's 1687 voyage to Jamaica, where he collected and recorded plant specimens, including cocoa, which are preserved to this day Maria Sybilla Merian's personal journey to Surinam in 1699, where in brilliant detail she recorded butterflies and exotic insects Charles Darwin's fateful trip to the Galapagos Islands, on which he cataloged finches and fossils William Bartram's fanciful documentation of North American wildlife Matthew Flinders' mapping of Australia, where he was accompanied by Ferdinand Bauer, perhaps the greatest of all natural science artists.

The Natural History Museum in London has the world's most comprehensive collection of natural science specimens and artworks. Voyages of Discovery offers readers a privileged opportunity to explore that collection.

"Though most of the text is merely serviceable, hundreds of illustrations of flora and fauna enthrall in this lavish history of 10 natural history expeditions spanning two centuries, from Hans Sloane's 1687 journey to Jamaica, which brought chocolate to Europe, to a seafaring expedition in 1872 that charted the ocean depths and aided in laying transatlantic telegraph cables. Short essays by Rice, formerly a curator at London's Natural History Museum, detail the adventures of peripatetic scientists whose curiosity charted the world from Ceylon to Surinam to Amazonia and beyond, but impart little that is new about James Cook's epic South Sea voyages, William Bartram's sometimes fanciful exploits in North America or Charles Darwin's momentous trip to the Galpagos. The mesmerizing discoveries here are the sketches and full-color illustrations of plants, mammals, birds, sea creatures and insects by the artists — 'talented technicians' — who served the scientists. The stunning work, culled from more than half a million drawings and watercolors in the London museum — some never seen in print before — is augmented by Rice's captions, minihistories in themselves that contribute luscious grace notes to otherwise pedestrian prose." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Superb artwork from London's Natural History Museum spanning 3 centuries document the achievements of 10 major natural history expeditions and bring to life the fascinating stories behind them.