A Look Back in Time

Catesby Special Collection at NAL

I had a meeting at the USDA Abraham Lincoln National Agricultural Library this past Tuesday, and while waiting for the elevator, noticed the collection of wildlife prints displayed on the wall. When I came back down from my meeting, I took a couple of quick photographs. As it turned out, the collection on display are prints by Mark Catesby from the eighteenth century. The description of the collection is given below, taken from the library's Website accessed by clicking here.

Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands
Rare and Special Collections opened an exhibit on Mark Catesby in 2000 on the first floor of the library. English born, Catesby (1682-1749) was the first naturalist to document North American plants and animals. His life's work, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, published 1731-1748, contains 220 etched plates as well as detailed descriptions of flora and fauna. It is considered one of the great achievements of 18th century science and art. This exhibit features 14 images by Catesby.

More information about Catesby can be found by clicking here, here, and here. Examples of his art can be viewed by clicking here. Looking over there reference (and others), it brought back thoughts of a book I read this time two years ago about David Douglas, the plant explorer after whom the Pacific Northwest's Douglas Fir is named. Our son's friend who is now a Marine Second Lieutenant is from the Big Island where Douglas died. I don't know anything about Catesby other than the short biography I posted above. As for reading, he may be an interesting person to delve into deeper - just as I am now reading about Roger Tory Peterson, and on my wish list, another naturalist and illustrator, Louis Agassiz Fuertes.