Fish on Paper: Ichthyology and the Disciplining of Natural History (1680–1820) / Didi van Trijp.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Trijp, Didi van, author.

Series:

Early Modern History and Modern History E-Books Online, Collection 2025.

Emergence of Natural History ; 10.

Early Modern History and Modern History E-Books Online, Collection 2025

Emergence of Natural History ; 10

Language:

English

Greek, Modern (1453-)

Subjects (All):

Biology.

Civilization--History.

Civilization.

Early Modern History.

Human ecology--History.

Human ecology.

History of Science.

History.

Literature and Cultural Studies.

Zoology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (262 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2026.

Language Note:

English and Greek, Modern

Summary:

This book offers the first contextualised approach to how the study of fish took shape as a distinct field of knowledge in the eighteenth century. This field was called ichthyology. In placing the many and varied contributors to early modern natural history into this historical narrative, this volume demonstrates how the world underwater was a shared site of investigation. Through analysing the practices that were central to natural history, it shows how the development of a classificatory method resulted in a disciplining of natural history that established the ichthyologist as the authoritative knower of fish. Drawing on unique, previously unexplored material from libraries, archives, and museums, this study examines how this emphasis on classification directed the ways in which fish were preserved as specimens, in texts and in images. The epilogue reflects on how these historical sources shed light on the past occurrence of species and how this can inform ecological research.

Contents:

Front Cover

Half Title

Series Information

Title Page

Copyright Page

Contents

Acknowledgements

Figures

Abbreviations

Archives, Libraries and Collections

Other

Notes

On Translations

On Dates

On Transcriptions

On References

On Species Names

Introduction: No Such Thing as a Fish

1 Disciplinary Histories

2 Angling for Authority

3 Practices of Natural History

4 Sources and Structure

Chapter 1 From Aquatilia to Fish

1 Different Ways to Define a Fish

2 "Useful Studies and Designs"

3 Formats for Description

4 The Best Figures

5 Conclusion

Chapter 2 Fresh Fish: Observation Up Close in Francis Willughby and John Ray's Historia piscium

1 A Wider Cast

2 Knowledge at the Fish Market

3 Detail and Distinction

4 Conclusion

Chapter 3 Demarcating a Discipline: Peter Artedi's Ichthyologia and the Classification of Knowledge

1 The Short Career of Peter Artedi

2 Demarcating a Field

3 Classifying Fish

3.1 Orders

3.2 Genera

3.3 Species

3.4 Varieties

4 Lost in Preservation?

Chapter 4 Swimming on the Page: Illustration and Image in Marcus Élieser Bloch's Allgemeine Naturgeschichte der Fische

1 Collections, Identities, and Reputations

2 Charting German and "Foreign" Fish

3 Colonial Collecting on the Coast of Coromandel

4 To Capture Fishes on Paper

Conclusion: Shared Sites of Investigation

1 The Ichthyologist and the Artisan

2 Fish as Specimen, Text and Image

3 Disciplined

Epilogue: Using Historical Sources to Understand Ecologies of the Past

Bibliography

1 Primary Sources

1.1 Archives, Libraries and Collections

1.1.1 United Kingdom

1.1.2 Germany

1.1.3 The Netherlands

1.1.4 Sweden

1.1.5 United States

1.2 Printed Works before 1828

1.3 Editions.

2 Secondary Sources

Index

Back Cover.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9789004549500

OCLC:

1555342441

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004549500 DOI