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The Paper Zoo: 500 Years of Animals in Art
As children, our first encounters with the world’s animals do not arise during expeditions through faraway jungles or on perilous mountain treks. Instead, we meet these creatures between the pages of a book, on the floor of an obliging library. Down through the centuries, illustrated books have served as our paper zoos, both documenting the world’s extraordinary wildlife in exquisite detail and revealing, in hindsight, how our relationship to and understanding of these animals have evolved over time.
In this stunning book, historian of science Charlotte Sleigh draws on the ultimate bibliophile’s menagerie—the collections of the British Library—to present a lavishly illustrated homage to this historical collaboration between art and science. Gathering together a breathtaking range of nature illustrations from manuscripts, prints, drawings, and rare printed books from across the world, Sleigh brings us face to face (or face to tentacle) with images of butterflies, beetles, and spiders, of shells, fish, and coral polyps. Organized into four themed sections—exotic, native, domestic, and paradoxical—the images introduce us to some of the world’s most renowned natural history illustrators, from John James Audubon to Mark Catesby and Ernst Haeckel, as well as to lesser-known artists. In her accompanying text, Sleigh traces the story of the art of natural history from the Renaissance through the great age of exploration and into the nineteenth century, offering insight into the changing connections between the natural and human worlds.
But the story does not end there. From caterpillars to crabs, langurs to dugongs, stick insects to Old English pigs; from the sinuous tail feathers of birds of paradise to the lime-green wings of New Zealand’s enormous flightless parrot, the kakapo; from the crenellated plates of a tortoise’s shell to imagined likenesses of unicorns, mermaids, and dinosaurs, the story continues in this book. It is a Paper Zoo for all time.
In this stunning book, historian of science Charlotte Sleigh draws on the ultimate bibliophile’s menagerie—the collections of the British Library—to present a lavishly illustrated homage to this historical collaboration between art and science. Gathering together a breathtaking range of nature illustrations from manuscripts, prints, drawings, and rare printed books from across the world, Sleigh brings us face to face (or face to tentacle) with images of butterflies, beetles, and spiders, of shells, fish, and coral polyps. Organized into four themed sections—exotic, native, domestic, and paradoxical—the images introduce us to some of the world’s most renowned natural history illustrators, from John James Audubon to Mark Catesby and Ernst Haeckel, as well as to lesser-known artists. In her accompanying text, Sleigh traces the story of the art of natural history from the Renaissance through the great age of exploration and into the nineteenth century, offering insight into the changing connections between the natural and human worlds.
But the story does not end there. From caterpillars to crabs, langurs to dugongs, stick insects to Old English pigs; from the sinuous tail feathers of birds of paradise to the lime-green wings of New Zealand’s enormous flightless parrot, the kakapo; from the crenellated plates of a tortoise’s shell to imagined likenesses of unicorns, mermaids, and dinosaurs, the story continues in this book. It is a Paper Zoo for all time.
- GenresArtNonfictionAnimals
256 pages, Hardcover
Published March 8, 2017
1 person is currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Charlotte Sleigh
18 books10 followersDr. Charlotte Sleigh is Lecturer in the School of History at the University of Kent at Canterbury. (2003)
Charlotte Sleigh studied at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. She had a one-year visiting assistant professorship at the University of California, Los Angeles, before taking up her post at Kent in 2000, where she is now senior lecturer in history of science.
Charlotte has been known as ‘the ant woman’ for some time now on account of her research into the history of myrmecology, the science of ants. She has researched how social and cultural perspectives have shaped the ways in which scientists have looked at ants, resulting in two books (Ant, Reaktion, 2003, and Six Legs Better, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007) and a number of articles.
Keen to shake off her insectan title, and to be known for other areas of expertise, Charlotte is currently working on a book about science and literature to be published by Palgrave. Besides this, her research interests encompass the life sciences over the past 150 years. She has given public lectures and appeared on a number of radio and TV programmes, speaking with varying degrees of authoritativeness on a number of history of science-related topics.
Charlotte’s teaching at Kent includes science and literature, Victorian science and society, the history of animals, and the history of the body in the twentieth century. She is co-director of the MSc in Science, Communication and Society, run jointly with Biosciences. This unique degree combines practical training in science communication with insights from the humanities on the history, sociology and ethics of science.
Charlotte Sleigh studied at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. She had a one-year visiting assistant professorship at the University of California, Los Angeles, before taking up her post at Kent in 2000, where she is now senior lecturer in history of science.
Charlotte has been known as ‘the ant woman’ for some time now on account of her research into the history of myrmecology, the science of ants. She has researched how social and cultural perspectives have shaped the ways in which scientists have looked at ants, resulting in two books (Ant, Reaktion, 2003, and Six Legs Better, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007) and a number of articles.
Keen to shake off her insectan title, and to be known for other areas of expertise, Charlotte is currently working on a book about science and literature to be published by Palgrave. Besides this, her research interests encompass the life sciences over the past 150 years. She has given public lectures and appeared on a number of radio and TV programmes, speaking with varying degrees of authoritativeness on a number of history of science-related topics.
Charlotte’s teaching at Kent includes science and literature, Victorian science and society, the history of animals, and the history of the body in the twentieth century. She is co-director of the MSc in Science, Communication and Society, run jointly with Biosciences. This unique degree combines practical training in science communication with insights from the humanities on the history, sociology and ethics of science.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 6, 2017
A beautiful book. If I could rate this ten stars I would. This should be on everyones shelf as it contains some of the most stunning artwork I have seen for a while. looking forward to reading this beautiful book with its small word count.
UPDATE
Why did this take so long to read?
The author is a a two faced fool. She complains, not comments that a paper zoo is also death.
Her derisive remarks about men are infuriating because when she mentions a woman that has done the SAME things she is ok with that.
Her historical knowledge on certain aspects is appalling, she makes a comment about the badger population without following it to a logical conclusion yet can spend time being obnoxious. When she focuses on the history she can sometimes hit the mark even if she as a problem with real words such as using a non-existant word (protectionism) in place of conservation. Using the idiot word meme, NO!
A beautiful book of art that deserves the stars FOR THE ART ONLY not the writing.
She should stick to lectures about gender inequality on T-shirts and I am not joking.
All in all if you hate the subject matter you are writing about, leave it alone for someone that can do it justice.
UPDATE
Why did this take so long to read?
The author is a a two faced fool. She complains, not comments that a paper zoo is also death.
Her derisive remarks about men are infuriating because when she mentions a woman that has done the SAME things she is ok with that.
Her historical knowledge on certain aspects is appalling, she makes a comment about the badger population without following it to a logical conclusion yet can spend time being obnoxious. When she focuses on the history she can sometimes hit the mark even if she as a problem with real words such as using a non-existant word (protectionism) in place of conservation. Using the idiot word meme, NO!
A beautiful book of art that deserves the stars FOR THE ART ONLY not the writing.
She should stick to lectures about gender inequality on T-shirts and I am not joking.
All in all if you hate the subject matter you are writing about, leave it alone for someone that can do it justice.
July 9, 2019
A scientific as well as artistic track of human intelligence on nature. Amazing records on the history of scientific illustration of various animals.
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May 1, 2017591.0222 S6325 2017
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews