Document Type
Article
Date
Spring 1989
Keywords
Syracuse University Special Collections, history of science, natural history, Frederick Pursh, Mark Catesby, Alexander Wilson, John James Audubon
Language
English
Disciplines
History | History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Description/Abstract
It is perhaps not realized by the modem armchair naturalist what hardships attended his 'explorer naturalist' predecessor in the early 1800s. In the George Arents Research Library there is an intriguing—indeed, quite outstanding—group of volumes, landmarks in the history of the natural sciences, by American, British, and French botanists, ornithologists, ichthyologists, entomologists, and herpetologists. A study of the various prefaces, introductions, and accompanying advertisements reveals the overwhelming problems that not only attended every fact ,gathering expedition, but seemed as well to plague every stage in the publication of the new materials. Nevertheless, undaunted, these explorers were inspired to do what had not been done before, namely, a firsthand, on-site description of natural history.
Recommended Citation
Snyder, Eileen. "Toils and Perils of Scientific Publishing in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries." The Courier 24.1 (1989): 13-32.
Source
local input
