Mark Catesby, a little-known English naturalist, spent 12 years exploring Britain’s colonies in south-eastern North America in the early decades of the 18th century. The book that he published afterwards in London, The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (1729-1747), was the first fully illustrated work on the flora and fauna of any part of our continent. In two large folio volumes, he included 220 full-page, hand-colored illustrations of hundreds of species of trees, flowers, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians, and mammals, most of them the first view Europeans had of North-American plants and animals.
Tag: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
With warmer weather just around the corner, we decided to feature a trade catalog showing Spring and Summer clothing. John E. Kaughran & Co.’s Illustrated Catalogue, Spring and Summer, 1884 takes us back to the late nineteenth century to show us the latest in fashion for the 1884 seasons.
Here are selected new books from the National Museum of the American Indian Library.
he Libraries would like to highlight some more new and diverse titles that have been added recently to the National Museum of American History Library.
Come hear George Oates, Lead for Open Library, and Nancy Gwinn, Director, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, talk about the future of libraries, archives and museums in a digital world.
We have recently received several books addressing the intriguing relation between science and art.