{"product_id":"the-flowering-of-ecology-maria-sibylla-merian-s-caterpillar-book-9789004284791","title":"The Flowering of Ecology: Maria Sibylla Merian’s Caterpillar Book","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Flowering of Ecology presents an English translation of Maria Sibylla Merian’s 1679 ‘caterpillar’ book, Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung und sonderbare Blumen–Nahrung. Her processes in making the book and an analysis of its scientific content are presented in a historical context. Merian raised insects for five decades, recording the food plants, behavior and ecology of roughly 300 species. Her most influential invention was an 'ecological' composition in which the metamorphic cycles of insects (usually moths and butterflies) were arrayed around plants that served as food for the caterpillars. Kay Etheridge analyzes the 1679 caterpillar book from the viewpoint of a biologist, arguing that Merian’s study of insect interactions with plants, the first of its kind, was a formative contribution to natural history.    Read Kay Etheridge’s blogpost on “Art Herstory”.    See inside the book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is hard to choose between superlatives with which to characterize this modestly sized but highly significant volume. Focusing on one of best-known names in the history of natural history at the turn of the eighteenth century, Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), it demonstrates that even the esteem in which she has been held fails to recognize the extent of her originality.  Arthur MacGregor, Archives of Natural History 49.1 (2022): 224    \"Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students and faculty. General readers.\"  --A. L. Jacobsen (California State University, Bakersfield ), June 2022 issue of CHOICE   \"[...] after years of distortion, in the past few decades, her real contributions to entomology have started to come into view. The Flowering of Ecology: Maria Sibylla Merian’s Caterpillar Book by Kay Etheridge, with translations by Michael Ritterson, is a significant contribution to this effort.\" --Kim Todd (University of Minnesota), EMW Vol. 16 No. 2 • Spring 2022, 351-353\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eForeword   Brian Ogilvie    Preface  Acknowledgments  List of Illustrations    part 1: The Flowering of Ecology  1 Before the Transformation   Introduction    Art and Science Intertwined   Drawings\/Manuscripts   Still Life Painting   Finding God in Nature   Natural History of Insects in Printed Works   Publishing Illustrated Natural History Books   Studies of Metamorphosis    2 A Life Investigated   Growing up in Frankfurt am Main   Early Fascination with Insects   Marriage and the Move to Nuremberg   The Flower Books   Beginnings of the Raupen Books   Merian’s Motivations    3 Described and Painted from Life   Fieldwork: The Basis of Merian’s Empirical Studies   Laboratory Work   Merian’s Study Journal   Merian’s Other Sources of Information   Illustrating the Raupen Book   Composing the Images   Making the Plates   Merian’s Counterproofs   Composing the Text of Her Book   Financing, Printing and Marketing the Raupen Book    4 For the Benefit of Naturalists   The Rupsen Books   The Last Caterpillar Book   Later Editions and Their Lasting Effects   Recognition and Reception by Near Contemporaries   Merian’s Influence on Natural History   Merian’s Reputation as a Naturalist    part 2: Plates, Translation and Commentary  Maria Sibylla Merian’s Caterpillar Book    Appendix: Translation of Selected Entries from Maria Sibylla Merian’s  Study Journal  Bibliography  Index","brand":"Brill","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53210660208983,"sku":"9789004284791","price":76.8,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-flowering-of-ecology-maria-sibylla-merian-s-caterpillar-book-9789004284791","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}