Natural history specimen dealers had an important role in the development of science in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. They supplied the rapidly growing, both in size and number, museums and educational establishments and private collectors whose collections, either in entirety or parts finally entered museums. Most sold not just zoological, botanical and geological specimens but also equipment and books. Many also sold archaeological and ethnographic items. They purchased specimens from professional and amateur collectors, sometimes collected themselves as well as acting as agents for the sale of collections. Many were based in mercantile centres notably Amsterdam, Hamburg, and London or in major cities. Some were specialists and some were taxonomic authorities who wrote scientific works and manuals, some functioned as trading museums or institutes.
This is a list of natural history dealers from the 16th to the 19th century: here are names that are frequently encountered in museum collections.
Jules Pierre Verreaux was a French botanist and ornithologist and a professional collector of and trader in natural history specimens. He was the brother of Édouard Verreaux and nephew of Pierre Antoine Delalande.
Jean Baptiste Édouard Verreaux was a French naturalist, taxidermist, collector, and dealer. Botanist and ornithologist Jules Verreaux was his older brother.
Johann Wilhelm Meigen was a German entomologist famous for his pioneering work on Diptera.
Friedrich Sellow (1789–1831) was a German botanist and naturalist. He was one of the earliest European scientific explorers of Brazil, and a major collector of Brazilian flora.
Christian Rudolph Wilhelm Wiedemann was a German physician, historian, naturalist and entomologist. He is best known for his studies of world Diptera, but he also studied Hymenoptera and Coleoptera, although far less expertly.
1850
The Senckenberg German Entomological Institute is a German entomological research institute devoted to the study of insects. Founded in 1886, the institute has an extraordinary insect collection and a world-class entomological library. Since 2009, the SDEI has been part of the Senckenberg Nature Research Society.
Karl Ludwig Philipp Zeyher, was a botanical and insect collector who collected extensively in South Africa. He was the author, with Christian Friedrich Ecklon, of Enumeratio Plantarum Africae Australis (1835-7), a descriptive catalogue of South African plants.
Émile Deyrolle (1838–1917) was a French naturalist and natural history dealer in Paris. The business was originally owned by his naturalist grandfather, Jean-Baptiste Deyrolle who opened his shop in 1831 at 23, Rue de la Monnaie. Émile’s father Achille Deyrolle ran the business for many years. Émile took over in 1866. The address from 1881 was 46, Rue du Bac, the former home of Jacques Samuel Bernhart. Deyrolle specialized in natural history publications and specimens taxidermy, minerals, rocks, fossils, botanical specimens, shells, taxidermy, microscopic specimens and microscopes.
Auguste Sallé was a French traveller and entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera.
The Museum Godeffroy was a museum in Hamburg, Germany, which existed from 1861 to 1885.
Lepidopterology is a branch of entomology concerning the scientific study of moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies. Someone who studies in this field is a lepidopterist or, archaically, an aurelian.
Mineral collecting is the hobby of systematically collecting, identifying and displaying mineral specimens. Mineral collecting can also be a part of the profession of mineralogy and allied geologic specialties. Individual collectors often specialize in certain areas, for example collecting samples of several varieties of the mineral calcite from locations spread throughout a region or the world, or of minerals found in pegmatites.
Václav Fric was a Czech naturalist and natural history dealer.
Adam August Krantz was a German mineralogist.
William Watkins (1849–1900) was an English entomologist.
William Frederick Henry Rosenberg (1868–1957) was an English ornithologist and entomologist.
Emil Weiske was a German naturalist.
The Saruman Museum was a private butterfly museum established in England in the 1970s. It was also known as the National Butterfly Museum and functioned as a dealership. The founder Paul Edgar Smart FRES was the author of The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Butterfly World Crescent Books, 1989 275 pp.ISBN 10: 1855011689 ISBN 13: 9781855011687. In this work two thousand butterflies are shown life-size as set specimens on 61 double-page colour plates.All the specimens were held by Saruman and photographed there.The taxonomic Appendix was much reduced.Only the parts on Papilionidae were complete.The parts on other families were published by Sciences Nat. It is a seminal work of lepidopterology. The Illustrated Encyclopedia was preceded by Paul Smart and Chris Samson Butterflies Presented By Saruman Published by Saruman paperback – 1 Jan. 1973.