whit_merule | Eighteenth-century zoology...

... or rather, natural history.

You know, I love the internet + the increasing archival trend to scan in old volumes + having a university library access to all these resources. On a whim, for research for this other fic that I am totally not writing (SHUT UP), I just downloaded a bunch of late-eighteenth-century books to get a feel for the spirit of scientific/zoological inquiry of the period.

I feel the titles - verbose as they all are in that period - are almost sufficiently illustrative by themselves of the zeitgeist of scientific discovery. Also advertising.

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The Naturalist’s, and Traveller’s Companion, Containing Instructions for collecting & Preserving Objects of Natural History and for promoting enquiries after Human Knowledge in General. (1774)

Synopsis of the Natural History of Great Britain and Ireland. Containing a systematic arrangement and concise description of all the Animals, Vegetables, and Fossils which have hitherto been discovered in these kingdoms. (1789)

Scientific and Descriptive CATALOGUE of PEALE’S MUSEUM (1796)

Outlines of a Philosophy of the History of Man. Translated from the German. (1800)

New Travels into the Interior Parts of Africa, by the way of The Cape of Good Hope, in the years 1783, 84, and 85. Translated from the French of Le Vaillant. Illustrated with a Map. (1796)

Harmonia Ruralis; or An Essay towards A Natural History of British Song Birds, Illustrated with Figures the Size of Life of the Birds, Male and Female, in their most natural Attitudes; their Nests and Eggs; Food, Favourite Places, &c, &c. (1796)

Natural History of Birds, Fish, Insects, and Reptiles, Embellished with UPWARDS OF TWO HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS. (1798)

Instructions for Collecting and Preserving Various Subjects of Natural History as Animals, Birds, Reptiles, Shells, Corals, Plats, &c, together with a Treatise on the Management of Insects in their several States. (1794)

An Epitome of the Natural History of the Insects of China: Comprising Figures and Descriptions upwards of one hundred new, singular, and beautiful species, together with some that are of importance in medicine, domestic economy, &c. (1798)

A General History of Quadrupeds: The Figures Engraved on Wood by T. Bewick. (1790)

Genera of Birds. (1781)

A Description of some curious and uncommon CREATURES, Omitted in the Description of Three Hundred ANIMALS, and likewise in the supplement to that Book; designed as an Addition of those two Treatises, for the Entertainment of young People. Compiled by the same Hand. In which is Included, The Natural HISTORY of those great Curiosities, the CHIMPANZEE, Male and Female, brought from Angola, on the Coast of Guinea, and lately publickly shown in London. (1789)

Buffon’s Natural History. Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. From the French. (1792)

A Memoir concerning the Fascinating Faculty which has been ascribed to THE RATTLE-SNAKE and other AMERICAN SERPENTS. (1796)

A New Dictionary of Natural History; or, Compleat Universal Display of ANIMATED NATURE, with ACCURATE REPRESENTATIONS of the Most Curious and Beautiful Animals, Elegantly Coloured. (1785)

A Natural History of Birds. Most of which have not been figur’d or describ’d, and others very little known from obscure or too brief Descriptions without Figures, or from Figures veyrill design’d. (1743)

A Natural History of Beasts, compiled from the best authorities, and illustrated by a great variety of Copper Plates, comprising near ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIGURES, Accurately drawn from Nature, and beautifully engraved. (1798)