Mark Catesby's Natural History: An Introduction is a delightful picture book. It contains a collection of beautiful images of etchings by early eighteenth century naturalist and explorer Mark Catesby from his The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands which was first published in 1731 (a century before John James Audubon's Birds of America) and which was described by a knowledgeable contemporary as "the most magnificent Work I know of, since the Art of Printing has been discover'd." It was the first fully illustrated natural history of North America.
Mark Catesby's Natural History: An Introduction provides a window, not only into the flora and fauna of the early eighteenth century, but into the fascinating mind of an observer who meticulously recorded what he saw long before the advent and advantages of a modern-day camera.
Hardcover.