Henry Dresser and Victorian ornithology : Birds, books and business / / Henry A. McGhie

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910816145503321
• Autore: McGhie Henry A.
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Manchester, [England] : , : Manchester University Press, , 2017; ©2017
• ISBN: 1-5261-1602-2; 1-5261-3230-3; 1-5261-1601-4
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (341 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates) : color illustrations, photographs, tables
• Disciplina: 598.092
• Soggetti: Ornithology; Ornithologists; Birds - Collection and preservation; Birds; SCIENCE - Life Sciences - Zoology - General; Birds - Nomenclature; Birds - Classification; Birds - Great Britain; Birds - Europe; Ornithology - Great Britain - History - 19th century; Ornithologists - Great Britain; Biographies.; Terminology; Records and correspondence; History; Field guides.; Diaries.; Classification; Catalogs and collections.; Biography; Great Britain; Europe
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Nota di bibliografia: "Bibliography of Henry Dresser": pages 319-327.; Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-318) and indexes.
• Nota di contenuto: 1. Family background and early life -- 2. Texas : the big adventure -- 3. Settling down to business -- 4. Early exploits in ornithological society -- 5. Collecting -- 6. Discovering the birds of Europe. I -- 7. Discovering the birds of Europe. II -- 8. Making The birds of Europe -- 9. A central figure : society life in the 1870s -- 10. The 1880s : the rise of rivalry -- 11. The 1890s : the continuing rise of the British Museum (Natural History) -- 12. Working independently, 1900-5 -- 13. The grand finale : producing Eggs of the birds of Europe -- 14. Time for a change -- 15. Legacies -- Appendix 1. Birds mentioned in the text -- Appendix 2. Birds named by Henry Dresser -- Appendix 3. Birds named after Henry Dresser -- Appendix 4. Publications based on Henry Dresser's collections, 1985-2017.
• Sommario/riassunto: This book explores the life of Henry Dresser (1838–1915), one of the most productive British ornithologists of the mid-late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and is largely based on previously unpublished archival material. Dresser travelled widely and spent time in Texas during the American Civil War. He built enormous collections of skins and eggs of birds from Europe, North America and Asia, which formed the basis of over 100 publications, including some of the finest bird books of the late nineteenth century. Dresser was a leading figure in scientific society and in the early bird conservation movement; his correspondence and diaries reveal the inner workings, motivations, personal relationships and rivalries that existed among the leading ornithologists.