American Master Rediscovered
The Art and Science of William Bartram
University Park, PA—In Charles Frazier’s 1997 National Book Award winning novel Cold Mountain the hero, Inman, begins his quest through the American south armed only with a pistol and a tattered copy of William Bartram’s Travels. Bartram’s Travels continues to be renowned as an example of early-American travel writing, as an important historical document of the American South and its native peoples, and as an essential scientific documentation of the region’s flora and fauna. Unfortunately, Bartram’s considerable artistry as a naturalist-illustrator is less well known in the United States, as the bulk of his illustrations were sent to his patron in London and are now stored in the Natural History Museum. In The Art and Science of William Bartram Judith Magee brings together, for the first time, all sixty-eight drawings by Bartram held at the Natural History Museum, along with works by some of the most well-known natural history artists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The volume explores Bartram’s writings and artwork and reveals how influential he was in American science of the period. The son of legendary botanist John Bartram, William inherited
his father’s love of nature. This led him to explore the environs
of the American Southeast between 1773 and 1777. Here he collected
plants and seeds, kept a journal of his observations of nature,
and made drawings of the plants and animals he encountered. These
drawings reveal an ecological understanding of nature that only
truly developed in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Along
with presenting this art, The Art and Science of William Bartram recounts Bartram’s life and his famous journey. The book goes
on to show how Bartram was an inspiration to a whole generation
of young scientists and field naturalists. He was an authority on
the birds of North America and on the lifestyle, culture, and language
of the indigenous people of the regions through which he traveled,
and his writings influenced Wordsworth, Coleridge, and other writers
and poets throughout the past two hundred years. Now, with this
book, Americans have a chance to enjoy Bartram’s art as much
as they do his writing.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chronology
Prologue: Explorer, Naturalist, and Artist
Part 1: Formation
1 Plant Hunting and the Seed Trade
2 The Merchant’s Apprentice
3 Cape Fear and Competition
Part 2: Experience
4 Travels in Florida with the King’s Botanist
5 Finding a Patron
Part 3: Independence
6 Travels: Revisiting Old Haunts and Discovering New Ones
7 Encounters and Observations
8 The Arcadian Dream
9 Describing, Classifying, and Naming
Part 4: Influence
10 American Science Comes of Age: Ornithology
11 American Science Comes of Age: Entomology
12 Following in Bartram’s Footsteps
Epilogue: Contentment and Serenity
List of Drawings
Glossary of Names
Bibliography
Index
The Author
Judith Magee is Collections Development Manager in the Library of
the Natural History Museum, London. She has acted as picture researcher
for several publications and has contributed to Plant Discoveries:
A Botanist’s Voyage Through Plant Exploration (2003)
and Great Naturalists (forthcoming).