List of natural history dealers

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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">Johann Wilhelm Meigen</span> German entomologist

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

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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 – 1850–1900</span>

1850

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Senckenberg German Entomological Institute</span>

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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.

<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

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

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lepidopterology</span> Branch of entymology that studies moths and butterflies

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.

<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.

<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 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.

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