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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. Twenty-four specially-commissioned essays cover the period from the sixteenth century, when the first institutions of natural history were created, to its late nineteenth-century transformation by practitioners of the new biological sciences. An introduction discusses novel approaches that have made this a major focus for research in cultural history. The essays, which include suggestions for further reading, offer a coherent and accessible overview of a fascinating subject.
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.
'For years I have wished for some single text or volume to which I could send students to introduce them to the full diversity and richness of 'natural history'. This collection should serve as the starting point for a deeper enquiry into this topic for many years ... I have rarely been moredelighted with a set of papers. The editors are to be commended for thisconsiderable addition to the literature.' The British Journal for the History of Science '... an excellent introduction to the history of natural history and a revealing guide to current scholarly preoccupations.' The Times Literary Supplement ' ... present work ... is excellent of its kind, well written and handsomely illustrated.' Revue d'Histoire des Sciences
