Skip to content
You are not logged in |Login  
     
Limit search to available items
Record:   Prev Next
Resources
More Information
Bestseller
BestsellerE-book

Title John Abbot & William Swainson : art, science, and commerce in nineteenth-century natural history illustration / Janice Neri, Tara Nummedal & John V. Calhoun.

Publication Info. Tuscaloosa : The University of Alabama Press, [2019]

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (x, 239 pages) : illustrations (chiefly color)
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-233) and indexes.
Contents Preface / Tara Nummedal -- Introduction : science and sentiment / Janice Neri -- John Abbot's drawings and notes / with commentary by John V. Calhoun.
Summary "An archive of never-before-published illustrations of insects and plants painted by a pioneering naturalist During his lifetime (1751-ca. 1840), English-born naturalist and artist John Abbot rendered more than 4,000 natural history illustrations and profoundly influenced North American entomology, as he documented many species in the New World long before they were scientifically described. For sixty-five years, Abbot worked in Georgia to advance knowledge of the flora and fauna of the American South by sending superbly mounted specimens and exquisitely detailed illustrations of insects, birds, butterflies, and moths, on commission, to collectors and scientists all over the world. Between 1816 and 1818, Abbot completed 104 drawings of insects on their native plants for English naturalist and patron William Swainson (1789-1855). Both Abbot and Swainson were artists, naturalists, and collectors during a time when natural history and the sciences flourished. Separated by nearly forty years in age, Abbot and Swainson were members of the same international communities and correspondence networks upon which the study of nature was based during this period. The relationship between these two men--who never met in person--is explored in John Abbot and William Swainson: Art, Science, and Commerce in Nineteenth-Century Natural History Illustration. This volume also showcases, for the first time, the complete set of original, full-color illustrations discovered in 1977 in the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, New Zealand. Originally intended as a companion to an earlier survey of insects from Georgia, the newly rediscovered Turnbull manuscript presents beetles, grasshoppers, butterflies, moths, and a wasp. Most of the insects are pictured with the flowering plants upon which Abbot thought them to feed. Abbot's journal annotations about the habits and biology of each species are also included, as are nomenclature updates for the insect taxa. Today, the Turnbull drawings illuminate the complex array of personal and professional concerns that informed the field of natural history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These illustrations are also treasured artifacts from times past, their far-flung travels revealing a world being reshaped by the forces of global commerce and information exchange even then. The shared project of John Abbot and William Swainson is now brought to completion, signaling the beginning of a new phase of its significance for modern readers and scholars."--EBSCO.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Abbot, John, 1751-1840.
Abbot, John, 1751-1840.
Swainson, William, 1789-1855.
Swainson, William, 1789-1855.
Natural history illustration -- History -- 19th century.
Natural history illustration.
History.
Chronological Term 19th century
Subject Art and science -- History -- 19th century.
Art and science.
Science -- Economic aspects -- History -- 19th century.
Science -- Economic aspects.
Science.
Chronological Term 1800-1899
Genre/Form Electronic books.
History.
Added Author Neri, Janice, writer of preface.
Nummedal, Tara E., writer of introduction.
Calhoun, John V., writer of added commentary.
Abbot, John, 1751-1840. Works. Selections.
Added Title John Abbot and William Swainson
Other Form: Print version: John Abbot & William Swainson. Tuscaloosa : The University of Alabama Press, [2019] 9780817320133 (DLC) 2018028788 (OCoLC)1042080531
ISBN 9780817392512 (electronic book)
0817392513 (electronic book)
9780817320133
081732013X