Natural Things in Early Modern Worlds

Natural Things in Early Modern Worlds
Author: Mackenzie Cooley
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 557
Release: 2023-05-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1000873021

The essays and original visualizations collected in Natural Things in Early Modern Worlds explore the relationships among natural things - ranging from pollen in a gust of wind to a carnivorous pitcher plant to a shell-like skinned armadillo - and the humans enthralled with them. Episodes from 1500 to the early 1900s reveal connected histories across early modern worlds as natural things traveled across the Indian Ocean, the Ottoman Empire, Pacific islands, Southeast Asia, the Spanish Empire, and Western Europe. In distant worlds that were constantly changing with expanding networks of trade, colonial aspirations, and the rise of empiricism, natural things obtained new meanings and became alienated from their origins. Tracing the processes of their displacement, each chapter starts with a piece of original artwork that relies on digital collage to pull image sources out of place and to represent meanings that natural things lost and remade. Accessible and elegant, Natural Things is the first study of its kind to combine original visualizations with the history of science. Museum-goers, scholars, scientists, and students will find new histories of nature and collecting within. Its playful visuality will capture the imagination of non-academic and academic readers alike while reminding us of the alienating capacity of the modern life sciences.

The Miscellaneous Botanical Works of Robert Brown

The Miscellaneous Botanical Works of Robert Brown
Author: Robert Brown
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 631
Release: 2015-04-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1108076815

This two-volume collection of Robert Brown's 'miscellaneous botanical works', edited by John J. Bennett, was published in 1866-7.