Reading the world : British practices of natural history, 1760-1820 / Edwin D. Rose

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rose, Edwin D., author.

Series:

Science and culture in the nineteenth century

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Natural history--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Natural history.

Natural history--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Physical Description:

xii, 395 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press, [2025]

Summary:

"In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries--a period that marked the emergence of a global modernity--educated landowners, or 'gentlemen,' dominated the development of British natural history, utilizing networks of trade and empire to inventory nature and understand events across the world. Specimens, ranging from a Welsh bittern to the plants of Botany Bay, were collected, recorded, and classified, while books were produced in London and copies distributed and used across Britain, Continental Europe, the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas. Natural history connected a diverse range of individuals, from European landowners to Polynesian priests, incorporating, distributing, synthesizing, and appropriating information collected on a global scale. In Reading the World, Edwin D. Rose positions books, natural history specimens, and people in a close cycle of literary production and consumption. His book reveals new aspects of scientific practice and the specific roles of individuals employed to collect, synthesize, and distribute knowledge--reevaluating Joseph Banks’s and Daniel Solander’s investigations during James Cook’s Endeavour voyage to the Pacific. Uncovering the range of skills involved in knowledge production, Rose expands our understanding of natural history as a cyclical process, from the initial collection and identification of specimens to the formal publication of descriptions to the eventual printing of sources"-- Publisher's web site

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-380) and index.

ISBN:

9780822948513

0822948516

OCLC:

1428703251