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Nature's Messenger: Mark Catesby and His Adventures in a New World
A dynamic and fresh exploration of the naturalist Mark Catesby—who predated John James Audubon by nearly a century— and his influence on how we understand American wildlife .
In 1722, Mark Catesby stepped ashore in Charles Town in the Carolina colony. Over the next four years, this young naturalist made history as he explored deep into America’s natural wonders, collecting and drawing plants and animals which had never been seen back in the Old World. Nine years later Catesby produced his magnificent and groundbreaking book, The Natural History of Carolina , the first-ever illustrated account of American flora and fauna.
In Nature’s Messenger , acclaimed writer Patrick Dean follows Catesby from his youth as a landed gentleman in rural England to his early work as a naturalist and his adventurous travels. A pioneer in many ways, Catesby’s careful attention to the knowledge of non-Europeans in America—the enslaved Africans and Native Americans who had their own sources of food and medicine from nature—set him apart from others of his time.
Nature’s Messenger takes us from the rice plantations of the Carolina Lowcountry to the bustling coffeehouses of 18th-century England, from the sun-drenched islands of the Bahamas to the austere meeting-rooms of London’s Royal Society, then presided over by Isaac Newton. It was a time of discovery, of intellectual ferment, and of the rise of the British Empire. And there on history’s leading edge, recording the extraordinary and often violent mingling of cultures as well as of nature, was Mark Catesby.
Intensively researched and thrillingly told, Nature’s Messenger will thrill fans of exploration and early American history as well as appealing to birdwatchers, botanists, and anyone fascinated by the natural world.
In 1722, Mark Catesby stepped ashore in Charles Town in the Carolina colony. Over the next four years, this young naturalist made history as he explored deep into America’s natural wonders, collecting and drawing plants and animals which had never been seen back in the Old World. Nine years later Catesby produced his magnificent and groundbreaking book, The Natural History of Carolina , the first-ever illustrated account of American flora and fauna.
In Nature’s Messenger , acclaimed writer Patrick Dean follows Catesby from his youth as a landed gentleman in rural England to his early work as a naturalist and his adventurous travels. A pioneer in many ways, Catesby’s careful attention to the knowledge of non-Europeans in America—the enslaved Africans and Native Americans who had their own sources of food and medicine from nature—set him apart from others of his time.
Nature’s Messenger takes us from the rice plantations of the Carolina Lowcountry to the bustling coffeehouses of 18th-century England, from the sun-drenched islands of the Bahamas to the austere meeting-rooms of London’s Royal Society, then presided over by Isaac Newton. It was a time of discovery, of intellectual ferment, and of the rise of the British Empire. And there on history’s leading edge, recording the extraordinary and often violent mingling of cultures as well as of nature, was Mark Catesby.
Intensively researched and thrillingly told, Nature’s Messenger will thrill fans of exploration and early American history as well as appealing to birdwatchers, botanists, and anyone fascinated by the natural world.
- GenresNatureNonfiction
320 pages, Hardcover
Published June 6, 2023
1 person is currently reading
112 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Dean
4 books20 followersPatrick Dean writes on the outdoors, outdoor athletes, and the environment. He has worked as a teacher, a political media director, and is presently the executive director of a rail-trail nonprofit. An avid trail-runner, paddler, and mountain-biker, he lives with his wife and dogs on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 10, 2023
This book is a good introduction to Colonial South Carolina.
Reading this can also give you context behind things in “Where The Crawdads Sing”. Especially since it focuses on the Naturalist, Mark Catesby, one of the first Naturalists to document the area.
Colour photos were included that showed Catesby’s work.
Some of this book can be heart breaking because some of the illustrations show extinct species.
This book also touches upon the enslavement of people.
Everyone who reads this book will have their own takeaway from it.
Reading this can also give you context behind things in “Where The Crawdads Sing”. Especially since it focuses on the Naturalist, Mark Catesby, one of the first Naturalists to document the area.
Colour photos were included that showed Catesby’s work.
Some of this book can be heart breaking because some of the illustrations show extinct species.
This book also touches upon the enslavement of people.
Everyone who reads this book will have their own takeaway from it.
August 21, 2023
In praise for Patrick Dean’s previous book, A Window to Heaven, one reviewer noted, "No matter how many times the Denali story gets told, it never gets old. The trick is to make it new. Outdoors writer Patrick Dean has done just, casting the climb in new light. The story reverberates today." Dean’s done it again with his newest work, Nature’s Messenger: Mark Catesby and his Adventures in a new world.
He took a 300-year-old story of an overlooked and overshadowed naturalist, considered it through the lens of today, with all that we know, and told the story anew. Whether it’s the addition of previously unpublished information, the added attention to the enlaved boy Catesby may have purchased, or Dean’s stylistic blend of rich descriptions and relevant context, Nature’s Messenger is beautifully-written, bold in its undertaking, and brilliant in its execution; it begs to be read—it’s an important contribution to our nation’s collective conversations around race, our history, and how much of our history are we willing to admit is tied to the slave trade. At times both heartbreaking and inspiring, fascinating and frightening, Dean’s chronicle of Catesby’s trip to the Carolinas during the Age or Reason—an age when empiricism replaced providence and readily-available knowledge and news enlightened the masses—is a must read for fans of early American history, nature, environmentalism, ecology, writing, history, and much more. Pick up a copy of Dean’s Nature’s Messenger and enter a world of botany, pirates, slaves traders, sugar cane, and southern magnolias.
He took a 300-year-old story of an overlooked and overshadowed naturalist, considered it through the lens of today, with all that we know, and told the story anew. Whether it’s the addition of previously unpublished information, the added attention to the enlaved boy Catesby may have purchased, or Dean’s stylistic blend of rich descriptions and relevant context, Nature’s Messenger is beautifully-written, bold in its undertaking, and brilliant in its execution; it begs to be read—it’s an important contribution to our nation’s collective conversations around race, our history, and how much of our history are we willing to admit is tied to the slave trade. At times both heartbreaking and inspiring, fascinating and frightening, Dean’s chronicle of Catesby’s trip to the Carolinas during the Age or Reason—an age when empiricism replaced providence and readily-available knowledge and news enlightened the masses—is a must read for fans of early American history, nature, environmentalism, ecology, writing, history, and much more. Pick up a copy of Dean’s Nature’s Messenger and enter a world of botany, pirates, slaves traders, sugar cane, and southern magnolias.
June 1, 2024
Pretty interesting. If this was only about Catesby it would probably only be ~50 pages, but Dean fleshes out a lot of the context for the time, area, etc. that helps to expand it. Wasn't as detailed specifically about Catesby's Carolina journeys I had hoped, but that's not due to a lack of research on the part of the author, just a lack of information about the subject in existence.
March 20, 2025
I thought Cates was an interesting guy, certainly talented and somewhat driven, but you had to be to break through British barriers from a social perspective. I would like to have been a fly on the wall as he explored, documented the living world, and interacted not just with his people, but with the enslaved and the native populations. I wish this book told more about those experiences, but the book explained his mission. A little slow at times, but whose life isn't? I would probably have given it three and a half stars.
February 13, 2024
Read for work
July 31, 2023
Nature’s Messenger
This book was well written and the drawings of Catesby were outstanding. This was a scholarly book which went into detail about the life and times of this outstanding Naturalist!
This book was well written and the drawings of Catesby were outstanding. This was a scholarly book which went into detail about the life and times of this outstanding Naturalist!
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October 1, 2023Catesby and other naturalists visited North America from Britain and captured the flora and fauna as never before. Mark C. is the primary person outlined in the book and he produced The Natural History of Carolinas, Florida and Bermuda after spending several years drawing and gathering data from the Natives, the whites who immigrated to Charleston, SC and the slaves taken from West Africa.
Given that the Native American knew the plants and animals of N. America, it only took Catesby to gather that into a book. The etching into copper of his sketches or painting resulted in superior coloring and the graphics in his tome are unparalled.
Given that the Native American knew the plants and animals of N. America, it only took Catesby to gather that into a book. The etching into copper of his sketches or painting resulted in superior coloring and the graphics in his tome are unparalled.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews