Description
Book SynopsisWilliam Bartram's love of nature led him to explore the environs of American Southeast between 1773 and 1777. Here he collected plants and seeds, kept a journal of his observations of nature, and made drawings of the plants and animals he encountered. This work brings together, sixty-eight drawings by Bartram held at the Natural History Museum.
Trade Review“This well-written, accessible, and scholarly book does a splendid job situating William Bartram in the larger context of the Enlightenment, Romanticism, and the rhetoric of European and American natural history.”
—Randall C. Griffin,Southern Methodist University
“More slithering lowlife can be found in Judith Magee’s luminous The Art and Science of William Bartram. Long before Audubon, Bartram wandered through Cherokee outposts and Florida river basins, circa 1776, filling his notebooks with quasi-surrealist renderings of bobolinks and frolicking alligators. Bartram’s pictures are beautifully reproduced in Magee’s volume, and she makes a good case for his scientific expertise. It’s easy to see why Bartram’s idiosyncratic work stoked the feverish fantasies of Coleridge and Wordsworth.”
—Christopher Benfey Slate's Best books of 2007
“Particularly valuable is the publication, in color, for the first time of all 68 drawings by Bartram held by the Natural History Museum in London as well as natural history illustrations made by Bartram’s contemporaries.”
—P.D. Thomas Choice
“Using the best sources and nicely placing Bartram in the context of contemporary scientific thought, Magee provides keen insights into Bartram’s life and contributions. Her work advances our understanding of the role of this important figure in the maturation of natural history studies in America and makes clear the continuing significance of his writings and drawings.”
—Lester D. Stephens Journal of Southern History
“Overall, this book is well worth reading. It is lavishly illustrated, well researched, and evocatively written.”
—Angela L. Todd Huntia
“Judith Magee, in her handsome book, The Art and Science of William Bartram, gives a delightful overview of Bartram and his contributions to the natural history of his time, especially in his pioneering drawings and watercolors, in which he portrayed behavior, habitat, and the relationships among individual species.”
—Patricia Tyson Stroud Winterthur Portfolio
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Chronology
Prologue: Explorer, Naturalist, and Artist
Part I: Formation
1. Plant Hunting and the Seed Trade
2. The Merchant’s Apprentice
3. Cape Fear and Competition
Part II: Experience
4. Travels in Florida with the King’s Botanist
5. Finding a Patron
Part III: Independence
6. Travels: Revisiting Old Haunts and Discovering New Ones
7. Encounters and Observations
8. The Arcadian Dream
9. Describing, Classifying, and Naming
Part IV: Influence
10. American Science Comes of Age: Ornithology
11. American Science Comes of Age: Entomology
12. Following in Bartram’s Footsteps
Epilogue: Contentment and Serenity
List of Drawings
Glossary of Names
Bibliography
Index
