List of natural history dealers

Last updated

Advertisement Ernst A. Bottcher ErnstA Bottcher.jpg
Advertisement Ernst A. Bottcher

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.

Contents

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.

Vaclav Fric's shop at Wassergasse 736-II in Prague Fric Natural History DealerPrague.jpg
Václav Frič's shop at Wassergasse 736-II in Prague
Mineral collection for schools.Germany. SchoolMineralogyCollectionFull.JPG
Mineral collection for schools.Germany.
Mole skeleton supplied by T Gerrard & Co Ltd. BLW Skeleton of a common mole.jpg
Mole skeleton supplied by T Gerrard & Co Ltd.
The Field Museum in Chicago. Late entrants United States museums were major purchasers. Field fg03.jpg
The Field Museum in Chicago. Late entrants United States museums were major purchasers.
The grey trembler. In 1898 a unique skin was discovered in the Liverpool Museum. This specimen was obtained by Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby from bird collector Jules Verreaux in 1850. It was labeled only "Madagascar" Necropsar leguati.jpg
The grey trembler. In 1898 a unique skin was discovered in the Liverpool Museum. This specimen was obtained by Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby from bird collector Jules Verreaux in 1850. It was labeled only "Madagascar"

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jules Verreaux</span> French botanist and ornithologist (1807-1873)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ludwig Reichenbach</span> German botanist and ornithologist

Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach was a German botanist, ornithologist and illustrator. It was he who first requested Leopold Blaschka to make a set of glass marine invertebrate models for scientific education and museum showcasing, the successful commission giving rise to the creation of the Blaschkas' Glass sea creatures and, subsequently and indirectly, the more famous Glass Flowers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Wilhelm Meigen</span> German entomologist

Johann Wilhelm Meigen was a German entomologist famous for his pioneering work on Diptera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friedrich Sellow</span> German botanist and naturalist

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of entomology – prior to 1800</span>

Entomology, the scientific study of insects and closely related terrestrial arthropods, has been impelled by the necessity of societies to protect themselves from insect-borne diseases, crop losses to pest insects, and insect-related discomfort, as well as by people's natural curiosity. Though many significant developments in the field happened only recently, in the 19th–20th centuries, the history of entomology stretches back to prehistory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of entomology – 1850–1900</span>

1850

Johann August Ludwig Preiss was a German-born British botanist and zoologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Émile Deyrolle</span> French naturalist and natural history dealer

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Auguste Sallé</span> French traveller and entomologist

Auguste Sallé was a French traveller and entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum Godeffroy</span> Museum in Hamburg, Germany

The Museum Godeffroy was a museum in Hamburg, Germany, which existed from 1861 to 1885.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mineral collecting</span> Hobby of systematically collecting, identifying and displaying mineral specimens

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Václav Frič</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Frederick Henry Rosenberg</span> English ornithologist and entomologist (1868-1957)

William Frederick Henry Rosenberg (1868–1957) was an English ornithologist and entomologist.

Emil Weiske was a German naturalist.

Otto Garlepp, was a German naturalist and along with his brother Gustav Garlepp were professional natural history specimen collectors who worked through the firm of Otto Staudinger and Otto Bang-Haas of Dresden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saruman Museum</span>

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 natural history dealer. The founder, Paul Edgar Smart FRES, a gentleman scientist, was the author of The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Butterfly World. In this work two-thousand butterflies are shown life size on 61 double-page colour plates. All the specimens were held by the Saruman Museum and were 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 and much cited as [EBW]; Smart, 1976 Illust. Encyp. Butt. World. The Illustrated Encyclopedia was preceded by Paul Smart and Chris Samson's Butterflies Presented By Saruman which was published as a paperback by Saruman Butterflies in 1973.

References

  1. ↑ Lynn K. Nyhart "Civic and economic zoology in nineteenth-century Germany: The "Living communities"of Karl Mobius" Isis 4 (1998)pp. 605-630
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.