Zoological Illustrations, Volume 2

William SwainsonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.6

Word count: 158K words
Chapters: 16

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Zoological Illustrations, Volume 2 by William SwainsonAuthor: Swainson, William, 1789-1855,Language: English, Class: QL: Science: Zoology, Release Date: Apr 17, 2012

Editor's review

This book is Volume 2 of Zoological Illustrations by the British naturalist William Swainson, released as an eBook by Project Gutenberg and belonging to the public-domain zoological literature. Its value lies in preserving the original character of nineteenth-century zoological illustration: species morphology is recorded through images paired with textual descriptions, reflecting the observational perspective and descriptive conventions of naturalists before modern taxonomy took shape. For today's readers it is more a physical specimen of the history of science and natural-history drawing than a reference work for direct species identification. While reading, note the correspondence between plates and text and consider how early natural history used visual materials to establish an order of knowledge. It suits as supplementary material for research on the history of science, book history, or illustration art, and is also suitable for general readers interested in nineteenth-century natural history to browse at leisure. Because it is an English public-domain eBook composed mainly of historical documents, it lacks modern annotations and a Chinese introduction, so readers need a certain level of English reading ability and background knowledge.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in nineteenth-century natural history and the history of zoology
Scholars or students studying scientific illustration, natural-history drawing, and book history
Hobbyists with some English reading ability who enjoy browsing public-domain literature
Creators engaged in science communication who need historical image material for reference

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking modern animal classification and identification information
Beginners who find English difficult and need Chinese translation and annotation
Readers expecting a systematic textbook or high-resolution reproductions of a complete illustrated catalogue

Reading tips

Begin by browsing the plates, then read the corresponding textual descriptions, establishing a rhythm of reading image against text.
Read alongside works on the history of zoology or natural-history drawing to understand the historical context of the literature.
There is no need to read page by page; select readings by taxon or plate of interest and take notes.
Before reading, check the clarity of the electronic plates and, if necessary, compare with other public-domain editions.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for identifying animal species?

No. It is a nineteenth-century historical document whose classification system and descriptive approach differ considerably from modern zoology, and its plates were not designed for modern identification. It is better read as material on the history of science and natural-history drawing.

What level of English is needed to read this book?

The text is nineteenth-century English, with sentence patterns and terminology characteristic of the period. With college-level English reading ability and a willingness to consult dictionaries and background materials, it can basically be understood; if you only want to look at the plates, the language barrier is lower.

What is the difference between the Gutenberg edition and the original paper book?

The Gutenberg edition is a public-domain electronic text that is easy to search and free to obtain, but the presentation of the plates depends on the production quality of the electronic file and usually cannot fully replace the illustration detail of the original paper book.

Comments

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About the author

William Swainson Author · British (English) · 1789–1855

William Swainson (1789–1855) was a British naturalist, ornithologist, malacologist, entomologist and illustrator, born in London and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1820. He travelled to Brazil and Sicily in his early years, moved to New Zealand in 1841, and died in the Hutt Valley, New Zealand. Swainson is known for the coloured lithographic illustrations in Zoological Illustrations, published across several volumes and a second series; this library holds six related works by him. In his writing and drawing he gave equal weight to images and textual descriptions, attending closely to the detailed forms of species, and he was an important practitioner of the nineteenth-century natural history illustration tradition. Public information is limited, and details of his life and scholarly assessment await further research; the present introduction focuses chiefly on his works.