TY - BOOK AU - Irmscher,Christoph AU - Barnum,P.T. AU - Bartram,John AU - Bartram,William AU - Irmscher,Christoph AU - Peale,Charles Willson AU - Purcell,Rosamond TI - The Poetics of Natural History SN - 9781978805903 AV - QH21.U5 I75 2019 U1 - 508 23 PY - 2019///] CY - New Brunswick, NJ : PB - Rutgers University Press, KW - Natural history literature KW - United States KW - Natural history KW - Catalogs and collections KW - History KW - 18th century KW - 19th century KW - Naturalists KW - Poetics KW - SCIENCE / General KW - bisacsh N1 - Frontmatter --; Contents --; List of Illustrations --; Foreword --; Notes on the Photographs --; Preface to the Second Edition --; List of Abbreviations --; Introduction --; Part One. Displaying --; Chapter 1. “America Transplanted” --; Chapter 2. Collection and Recollection --; Chapter 3. Collecting Human Nature --; Part Two. Representing --; Chapter 4. The Power of Fascination --; Chapter 5. Audubon at Large --; Chapter 6. Agassiz Agonistes --; Notes --; Selected Bibliography --; Index; restricted access N2 - Early American naturalists assembled dazzling collections of native flora and fauna, from John Bartram’s botanical garden in Philadelphia and the artful display of animals in Charles Willson Peale’s museum to P. T. Barnum’s American Museum, infamously characterized by Henry James as “halls of humbug.” Yet physical collections were only one of the myriad ways that these naturalists captured, catalogued, and commemorated America’s rich biodiversity. They also turned to writing and art, from John Edward Holbrook’s forays into the fascinating world of herpetology to John James Audubon’s masterful portraits of American birds. In this groundbreaking, now classic book, Christoph Irmscher argues that early American natural historians developed a distinctly poetic sensibility that allowed them to imagine themselves as part of, and not apart from, their environment. He also demonstrates what happens to such inclusiveness in the hands of Harvard scientist-turned Amazonian explorer Louis Agassiz, whose racist pseudoscience appalled his student William James. This expanded, full-color edition of The Poetics of Natural History features a preface and art from award-winning artist Rosamond Purcell and invites the reader to be fully immersed in an era when the boundaries between literature, art, and science became fluid UR - https://doi.org/10.36019/9781978805903 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9781978805903 UR - https://www.degruyter.com/cover/covers/9781978805903.jpg ER -