Library Catalog
Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

The Poetics of Natural History / Christoph Irmscher.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, [2019]Copyright date: ©2019Description: 1 online resource (730 p.) : 25 color and 45 b-w imagesContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9781978805903
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 508 23
LOC classification:
  • QH21.U5 I75 2019
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
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
Summary: 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.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781978805903

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 online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

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.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)