Synopses & Reviews
The first systematic general work on recent scholarship in the history of natural history.
Review
"The 26 papers in this remarkable collection study, without jargon and very little special pleading, some of the principal liaisons contracted by natural history during the past five centuries....contains fresh, vigorous essays on the tried and true topics..." American Scientist
Review
"...an authoritative new book which reviews the progress of European natural history from the 16th century...to the late 19th century...represents much of the recent research and scholarship in the field of natural history...abundantly illustrated with relevant diagrams, engravings and drawings from many classical sources." The Times Higher Education Supplement
Review
"...this book provides an excellent basis for new explorations of natural history as overlapping and changing cultures." Joy Harvey, Journal of the History of Biology
Synopsis
This lavishly illustrated volume is the first systematic general work to do justice to the fruits of recent scholarship in the history of natural history. Public interest in this lively field has been stimulated by environmental concerns and through links with the histories of art, collecting and gardening. Twenty-four essays, written at an accessible level, cover the period from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. The book includes suggestions for further reading, and highlights the relevance of history for current debates on museum practice, ecological diversity, and the environment.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 460-494) and index.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments; Notes on contributors; Introduction: 1. The natures of cultural history Nicholas Jardine and Emma Spary; Part I. Curiosity, Erudition and Utility: 2. Emblematic natural history William B. Ashworth Jr; 3. The culture of gardens Andrew Cunningham; 4. Courting nature Paula Findlen; 5. The culture of curiosity Katie Whitaker; 6. Physicians and natural history Harold J. Cook; 7. Natural history as print culture Adrian Johns; Part II. Virtuosity, Improvement and Sensibility: 8. Natural history in the academies Daniel Roche; 9. Carl Linnaeus and his time and place Lisbet Koerner; 10. Gender in natural history Londa Schiebinger; 11. Political natural and bodily economics Emma Spary; 12. The science of man Paul B. Wood; 13. The natural history of the earth Martin Guntau; 14. Naturphilosophie and the kingdoms of nature Nicholas Jardine; Part III. Discipline, Discovery and Display: 15. New spaces in natural history Dorinda Outram; 16. Minerals strata and fossils Martin Rudwick; 17. Humboldtian science Michael Dettelbach; 18. Biogeography and empire Janet Browne; 19. Travelling the other way Gillian Beer; 20. Ethological encounters Michael T. Bravo; 21. Equipment for the field Anne Larsen; 22. Artisan botany Anne Secord; 23. Tastes and crazes David Allen; 24. Nature for the people Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent and Jean-Marc Drouin; 25. Natural history and the 'new' biology Lynn K. Nyhart; Epilogue: 26. The crisis of nature James A. Secord.