The ten authors, whose works are shown in this exhibit, were intensely curious about the natural world, and determined to communicate their observations. Their books are among the treasures of the natural history collections in the Sheridan Libraries and are on display at the George Peabody Library from March through July 20, 2000.

With intellectual curiosity and purpose in common, the ten naturalists were very different in their interests, backgrounds and styles of working. Robert Hooke (1655-1703) was a restless researcher who moved from one project to another. The striking illustrations in his Micrographia of magnified leaves, stones, and insects came from his study of the microscope. Abraham Trembley (1710-1784) became aware of hydra almost by accident, then concentrated on studying them as thoroughly as possible, planning every step in his groundbreaking work. Linneaus (1707-1778) had the same need for organization but applied it to creating a classification system of all three kingdoms of nature.

Trembley, Hooke and the horticulturist William Curtis (1746-1799) made their careers close to home, studying things which others did not notice, or considered ordinary, while Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), Mark Catesby (1679?-1749), and especially Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) traveled to study plants and animals and geology unknown in Europe. Humboldt's six-year journey in Central and South America has been called the "scientific discovery of America."

John Gould (1804-1881), the son of a gardener at Windsor Castle, was a taxidermist for the Zoological Society of London while teaching himself to be an ornithologist. Charles Lucien Bonaparte (1803-1857), Napoleon's nephew, had a university education before becoming an outstanding zoologist. He depended on professional artists to illustrate his books, like all the naturalists except Merian, Catesby and Audubon (1785-1851), who were artists in their own right.

The illustrations are engravings, most colored by hand, in the earliest books and lithographs in those by Audubon and Gould. To protect them from the light levels in the Peabody Library, the pages of exhibited volumes were turned periodically through the duration of the original library exhibit. This on-line exhibit features all of the exhibited pages, as well as some detail images and images not shown in the original library exhibit.

SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Last updated: 5/11/00 by knox@jhu.edu