Harmsworth Natural History

The Harmsworth Natural History comprises of three volumes. Originally created in 1910-11, it was the most comprehensive survey available to the public of the world's living creatures of its time, and was authored by prominent English experts in natural history. Volume one discusses primeval life, evolution, and the human and animal relationship in different parts of the world. It also includes studies of primates, wild cats, and small mammals. Richard Lydekker (1849 - 1915) was an award-winning naturalist, author and geologist; Sir Henry "Harry" Hamilton Johnston, (1858 - 1927), was an explorer, botanist, linguist and colonial administrator, travelling extensively in Africa; and Professor Ainsworth-Davis (1861-1934) specialised in zoology, geology and biology. We are republishing this vintage work in a new modern edition, complete with reproductions of the photographs and detailed illustration plates featured in the original version.

The Harmsworth Natural History comprises of three volumes. Originally created in 1910-11, it was the most comprehensive survey available to the public of the world's living creatures of its time, and was authored by prominent English experts in natural history. This volume includes larger mammals and marsupials, studies on extinct creatures and the classification of birds. Richard Lydekker (1849 - 1915) was an award-winning naturalist, author and geologist; Sir Henry "Harry" Hamilton Johnston, (1858 - 1927), was an explorer, botanist, linguist and colonial administrator, travelling extensively in Africa; and Professor Ainsworth-Davis (1861-1934) specialised in zoology, geology and biology. We are republishing this vintage work in a new modern edition, complete with reproductions of the photographs and detailed illustration plates featured in the original version.

Recent scholarship has revealed that pioneering Victorian scientists endeavored through voluminous writing to raise public interest in science and its implications. But it has generally been assumed that once science became a profession around the turn of the century, this new generation of scientists turned its collective back on public outreach. Science for All debunks this apocryphal notion. Peter J. Bowler surveys the books, serial works, magazines, and newspapers published between 1900 and the outbreak of World War II to show that practicing scientists were very active in writing about their work for a general readership. Science for All argues that the social environment of early twentieth-century Britain created a substantial market for science books and magazines aimed at those who had benefited from better secondary education but could not access higher learning. Scientists found it easy and profitable to write for this audience, Bowler reveals, and because their work was seen as educational, they faced no hostility from their peers. But when admission to colleges and universities became more accessible in the 1960s, this market diminished and professional scientists began to lose interest in writing at the nonspecialist level. Eagerly anticipated by scholars of scientific engagement throughout the ages, Science for All sheds light on our own era and the continuing tension between science and public understanding.

The special focus of this volume is ornithology: the classification of birds and their behaviour. The Harmsworth Natural History series was authored by prominent experts in natural history in the early 20th century. It surveys the living creatures of the world, at that time, and was the most comprehensive set of studies of its kind made available to the public. Richard Lydekker (1849 - 1915) was an award-winning naturalist, author and geologist; Sir Henry "Harry" Hamilton Johnston, (1858 - 1927), was an explorer, botanist, linguist and colonial administrator, travelling extensively in Africa; and Professor Ainsworth-Davis (1861-1934) specialised in zoology, geology and biology. We are republishing this vintage work in a new modern edition, complete with reproductions of the detailed plates featured in the original version.