Publications detailing how to survive any given situation pop up everywhere. Some are serious and fearful, others practical and common sense, and then there are those tongue-in-cheek and humorous. Wilderness more »
Tag: Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History
This post was written by Ariel Macon, a Masters of Library and Information Science student at the University of Kentucky. Ariel interned with the Smithsonian Libraries in March 2019 as more »
Should you happen to spot—say, in a yard sale, thrift store or grandparent’s house—an old copy of that classic of ornithological literature, A Field Guide to the Birds, have a close look. The first printing of the first edition of 1934 is calling for prices well over $10,000 in the antiquarian book trade. One was recently spied by keen-eyed staff in an office at the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park. This volume has been transferred to a more suitable habitat, the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History, for cataloging, preservation, research access, and education. Curator Leslie Overstreet has gathered from branch libraries three others of this title to include in the rare book library’s holdings.
My favorite chronicler of natural and cultural histories in early America is Englishman John Josselyn. He was a curious and good-humored observer of the 17th-century inhabitants of northern New England, more »
The Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History’s 1602 edition of Ulisse Aldrovandi’s De animalibus insectis has always been a favorite of mine, and the rest of our special collections staff. Aside from being the first European work dedicated solely to the natural history of insects and featuring numerous incredible woodcut illustrations, it also retains its beautiful contemporary binding. But this binding is just as dangerous as it is lovely: the green paint adorning the vellum of the front and back boards is laced with arsenic.
As a commemoration of the Imperial collection of shells in Vienna, the printed folio of Testacea Musei Caesarei Vindobonensis of 1780, is splendid. The eighteen engraved plates, carefully colored more »
This post first appeared on the Biodiversity Heritage Library blog. Historia naturalis ranarum nostratium has been described as one of the most beautiful works devoted to frogs and amphibians. more »