A definitive work on the history of bird art, ornithology, and nature writing. Volumes have been written on Audubon as though he were the dean of American ornithology, but Burtt and Davis reveal Alexander Wilson as providing the foundation. -- Bernd Heinrich, author of The Nesting Season
Edward H. Burtt, Jr., was Cincinnati Conference Professor of Zoology at Ohio Wesleyan University. William E. Davis, Jr. is Professor Emeritus at Boston University.
[Burtt and Davis] are in no doubt that their man is the one to
deserve the title of ‘Father’ [of American ornithology]… And it is
a strong case, convincingly made… This will be a very valuable
resource for scholars, and the drawings themselves are attractive
and persuasive evidence for the authors’ claims about Wilson’s
originality and importance. The authors and publishers have done
full justice to these illustrations in this handsome volume and
they are beautifully laid out and reproduced.
*Times Literary Supplement*
Burtt and Davis argue convincingly for Wilson’s contribution to
modern scientific ornithology and celebrate Wilson as the man who
inspired John James Audubon… This book…give[s] us Wilson’s
wonderful illustrations—and a sense of the spirit of an
extraordinary man whose curiosity reached far beyond the man-made
world.
*Wall Street Journal*
Burtt and Davis include brief essays on the ornithologists whom
Wilson read or corresponded with, providing a valuable overview of
the burgeoning natural sciences of the early nineteenth century…
They establish Wilson’s stature as a bird illustrator, and their
handsome volume reproduces them beautifully… Burtt and Davis
successfully make clear Wilson’s importance in establishing
American ornithology on two firm pillars: international Linnaean
binomial nomenclature and close observation of living birds as well
as specimens… Wilson’s position as the founder of American
ornithology was won with intense struggle from inauspicious
beginnings, and it seems secure.
*New York Review of Books*
It is as the author of American Ornithology—a nine-volume work that
aimed to list every species in the U.S.—that Wilson will be
remembered. Wilson’s books were revolutionary. He wrote his
descriptions of birds from observing them in the field, rather than
looking at stuffed birds in collections. It was an approach that
helped promote the adoption of the scientific method in the U.S. He
also penned his narrative so that readers would be able to identify
birds themselves, making it the first field guide… Wilson’s life
and his struggle to publish American Ornithology are
fascinating.
*The Scotsman*
Wilson was first to describe 26 species of North American birds, he
has more birds named after him than any other American
ornithologist, and John James Audubon, Charles Lucien Bonaparte,
Thomas Nuttall, Spencer Fullerton Baird, and Elliot Coues all were
inspired by him, yet most people, when asked who the father of
American ornithology is, say, wrongly, Audubon. This
well-illustrated study, the first to reproduce many of Wilson’s
drawings and draft plates from American Ornithology, his
nine-volume masterwork, sets the record straight.
*Bird Watching*
Wilson has more birds named after him than any other American
ornithologist, including Audubon, and now, thanks to Burtt and
Davis, he has a superb modern-day biography and critical
assessment, one every scholarly birder should buy and read. It’s
entirely right that we regularly remember to give Alexander Wilson
the credit for inventing the school and ethos of American
bird-study.
*Open Letters Monthly*
One of the objectives of this book is to publish all of Wilson’s
previously unpublished illustrations… Wilson’s artwork is superb…
The case Burtt and Davis make for Wilson being the true father of
American ornithology is overwhelming, and in that sense they have
succeeded admirably.
*Times Higher Education*
Alexander Wilson, the Scotsman who came to the United States in
1794…more than Audubon, deserves credit for having founded American
ornithology, as biographers Edward Burtt and William Davis rightly
insist.
*Weekly Standard*
The book includes many letters to and from U.S. naturalists and
dozens of beautifully reproduced and previously unpublished line
drawings and paintings of birds that contributed to Wilson’s
greatest tangible achievement, the encyclopedic nine-volume
American Ornithology. Unlike most of his contemporaries, such as
Audubon, Wilson argued for the need for field observation to truly
understand and illustrate the character of wild creatures, and he
traveled thousands of miles across a wild continent to accomplish
this. This book is full of delightful anecdotes and excellent
detailed drawings; it will do much to elevate the reputation of
Wilson among those with an interest in birds, illustration, and
history.
*Choice*
A Scottish emigré, Alexander Wilson (1766–1813) became the
preeminent ornithologist of early America. His systematic approach
to the study of birds and his nine-volume American Ornithology
(1808–14) greatly influenced John James Audubon, in whose shadow
Wilson has since remained… Burtt and Davis describe Wilson’s
mentoring by such prominent figures as Thomas Jefferson, Meriwether
Lewis, William Bartram, and the Philadelphia family of artists, the
Peales… The authors show that it is Wilson, rather than Audubon,
who deserves the sobriquet of the father of American ornithology…
This excellent work is highly recommended for birders and for
readers who appreciate American art or natural history.
*Library Journal*
Before Audubon and Birds of America, there was Alexander Wilson and
American Ornithology, a nine-volume work published between 1808 and
1814 that singlehandedly transformed the study of birds in the wild
and presaged the field guides of today. In addition to being the
first to adopt the Linnaean system of binomial nomenclature to
classify North American birds, Wilson was also one of the first to
base his findings primarily on the ‘observation and description of
live birds.’ By 1812, the Scottish poet had documented nearly 80%
of bird species in the United States, and developed the discipline
of ‘economic ornithology,’ whereby bird types are valued according
to a kind of cost–benefit analysis (i.e. one that takes into
account whether a bird is prone to destroy certain crops, whether
they can be consumed, etc.)… What makes this book of such great
value is the third chapter: ‘Illustrating American Ornithology.’
Composing over half of the book, this section features every
illustration from Wilson’s landmark publication. Alongside excerpts
from Wilson’s own commentary, the authors painstakingly detail how
each sketch developed into its final iteration. A must-have for any
serious bird-watcher.
*Publishers Weekly*
A definitive work on the history of bird art, ornithology, and
nature writing. Volumes have been written on Audubon as though he
were the dean of American ornithology, but Burtt and Davis reveal
Alexander Wilson as providing the foundation.
*Bernd Heinrich, author of The Nesting Season*
Our knowledge of New World birds stems deeply from the adventurous
spirit of a talented rebel poet, Alexander Wilson. This richly
illustrated, very special book brings him back to life as an
engaging and influential character whose passion for birds primed
ours. I couldn’t put it down.
*Frank Gill, author of Ornithology: Third Edition*
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