Henry Dresser and Victorian ornithology

Henry A. Mcghie

• 10 november 2017
• 9781784994136

Samenvatting:

This book explores the life of Henry Dresser (1838–1915), one of the most productive British ornithologists of the mid-late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The author examines how Dresser and his contemporaries discovered and documented birds across the globe.

Henry Dresser (1838–1915) was one of the most successful and influential ornithologists of the Victorian era, described by one contemporary as ‘quite a character in an age of individualism’.

A wealthy businessman and natural history collector, Dresser travelled widely on business in Europe, Canada, the United States and Mexico, before settling down to work in London in the timber and iron trades. He built enormous collections of bird skins and eggs from Europe, the Arctic, North America and Asia, which he sourced from famous travellers and collectors at the forefront of scientific exploration, as well as his own travels. These collections formed the basis of over 100 publications on birds, including some of the finest of the great bird books of the late nineteenth century, combining cutting-edge scientific information with masterpieces of bird illustration.

Henry Dresser and Victorian ornithology is based on a wealth of previously unpublished letters, diaries and photographs in museums and archives in the UK, US, Canada and Russia. These are used to provide the first detailed biography of any of the independent industrialist–naturalists who were integral in shaping nineteenth-century British ornithology. It explores his friendships – and disagreements – with his fellow ornithologists, and also tells the extraordinary story of the fourteen months he spent in Texas and Mexico during the American Civil War. Dresser played a key role in scientific society at a time of great transformation, and helped to establish the first bird conservation laws in Britain.

This book explores the life of Henry Dresser (1838–1915), one of the most productive British ornithologists of the mid-late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and is largely based on previously unpublished archival material. Dresser travelled widely and spent time in Texas during the American Civil War. He built enormous collections of skins and eggs of birds from Europe, North America and Asia, which formed the basis of over 100 publications, including some of the finest bird books of the late nineteenth century. Dresser was a leading figure in scientific society and in the early bird conservation movement; his correspondence and diaries reveal the inner workings, motivations, personal relationships and rivalries that existed among the leading ornithologists.