Rare & Wonderful
Rare & Wonderful

Author: Kate Diston

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781851244843

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Since its foundation in 1860, the Oxford University Museum of Natural History's world-renowned collections have become a key centre for scientific study and its much-loved building an important icon for visitors from around the world.The museum now holds over seven million scientific specimens including five million insects, half a million fossil specimens and half a million zoological specimens. It also holds an extensive collection of archival material relating to important naturalists such as Charles Darwin, William Smith, William Jones and James Charles Dale. This lavishly illustrated book features highlights from the collections ranging from the iconic Dodo (the only soft tissue specimen of the species in existence) and the giant tuna (brought back from Madeira on a perilous sea crossing in 1846) to crabs collected by Darwin during his voyage on the Beagle, David Livingstone's tsetse fly specimens and Mary Anning's ichthyosaur. Also featured are the first described dinosaur bones, found in a small Oxfordshire village, the Red Lady of Paviland (who was in fact a man who lived 29,000 years ago) and a meteorite from the planet Mars.Each item tells a unique story about natural history, about the history of science, about collecting, or about the museum itself. They give a unique insight into the extraordinary wealth of information and the fascinating tales that can be gleaned from these collections, both from the past and for the future.

Temple of Science
Temple of Science

Author: John Holmes

Publisher:

Published: 2020-10-23

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9781851245567

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Built between 1855 and 1860, Oxford University Museum of Natural History is the extraordinary result of close collaboration between artists and scientists. Inspired by John Ruskin, the architect Benjamin Woodward and the Oxford scientists worked with leading Pre-Raphaelite artists on the design and decoration of the building. The decorative art was modelled on the Pre-Raphaelite principle of meticulous observation of nature, itself indebted to science, while individual artists designed architectural details and carved portrait statues of influential scientists. The entire structure was an experiment in using architecture and art to communicate natural history, modern science and natural theology. 'Temple of Science' sets out the history of the campaign to build the museum before taking the reader on a tour of art in the museum itself. It looks at the façade and the central court, with their beautiful natural history carvings and marble columns illustrating different geological strata, and at the pantheon of scientists. Together they form the world's finest collection of Pre-Raphaelite sculpture. The story of one of the most remarkable collaborations between scientists and artists in European art is told here with lavish illustrations.

Iconotypes
Iconotypes

Author: Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Publisher:

Published: 2021-10-28

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780500024324

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Jones's Icones contains finely delineated paintings of more than 760 species of Lepidoptera, many of which it described for the first time, marking a critical moment in the study of natural history. With Iconotypes Jones's seminal work is published for the first time, accompanied by expert commentary and contextual essays, and featuring annotated maps showing the location of each species. Jones painted the species between the early 1780s and 1800, drawing from his own collection and the collections of Joseph Banks, Dru Drury, Sir James Edward Smith, John Francillon, the British Museum and the Linnean Society. For every specimen painting he provided a species name, the collection from which it was taken and the geographical location in which it was found. In 1787, during a visit to London, the Danish scientist Johann Christian Fabricius studied Jones's paintings and based 231 species of butterfly and moths on them. In this enhanced facsimile, Jones's references to historic references are clarified and modern taxonomic names are provided, together with notes on which paintings serve as iconotypes. Contextual commentary by specialist entomologist Richard I. Vane-Wright gives an account of Jones's life and his motivation for collecting butterflies and creating the Icones, and evaluates the significance of his work. Interspersed at intervals between the pages of Jones's paintings are modern maps showing the location of each species painted, and expert essays on the development of lepidoptery and taxonomy after Linneaus, and the roles of collectors and natural history artists from the late 1700s to mid-1800s. With 1600 illustrations in colour In partnership with Oxford University Museum of Natural History

Microsculpture
Microsculpture

Author: Levon Biss

Publisher: Abrams

Published: 2017-10-10

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 168335138X

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"You will never look at a beetle or a moth the same way again." --WIRED "Art meets science to dazzling effect." --The Guardian Microsculptureis a unique photographic study of insects in mind-blowing magnification that celebrates the wonders of nature and science. Levon Biss’s photographs capture in breathtaking detail the beauty of the insect world and are printed in large-scale format to provide an unforgettable viewing experience. Each picture in Microsculpture is created from approximately 8,000 individual photographs. Segments of the specimen are lit and photographed separately using microscope lenses, then “stacked” to maintain sharp focus throughout. These images are then combined to create a single high-resolution file. From start to finish, each portrait takes approximately 4 weeks to create. The project has captured the attention of the world with features in WIRED and New Scientist. Microsculpture has been exhibited at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Xposure 2016 International Photography Festival in Sharjah, U.A.E. It has been viewed by over half a mil­lion people so far and will be touring museums around the world from 2017 onward. The entomology collection has significant cultural and historical value, containing the world’s oldest pinned insect specimen and many thousands of insects collected by pioneering Victorian explorers and biologists such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace.

The Book of Hopes
The Book of Hopes

Author: Katherine Rundell

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-10-01

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1526629895

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_______________ Shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year _______________ In difficult times, what children really need is hope. And in that spirit, bestselling author Katherine Rundell emailed some of the children's writers and artists whose work she loved most: 'I asked them to write something very short, fiction or non-fiction, or draw something that would make the children reading it feel like possibility-ists: something that would make them laugh or wonder or snort or smile. The response was magnificent, which shouldn't have surprised me, because children's writers and illustrators are professional hunters of hope ... I hope that the imagination can be a place of shelter for children and that The Book of Hopes might be useful in that, even if only a little.' This collection, packed with short stories, poems and pictures from the very best children's authors and illustrators, aims to provide just that. Within its pages you'll find animal friends from insects to elephants, high-flying grandmas, a homesick sprite, the tooth fairy, and even extra-terrestrial life. There are 133 contributions from authors and illustrators, including Anthony Horowitz, Axel Scheffler, Catherine Johnson, Jacqueline Wilson, Katherine Rundell, Lauren Child, Michael Morpurgo and Onjali Q. Raúf. A donation from the sale of each book will go to NHS Charities Together, in gratitude for the incredible efforts of all those who worked in hospitals over the quarantine period. _______________ 'An anthology on the theme of hope ... it includes a rich range of images, poetry, stories and non-fiction' - Sunday Times, 'Stories to charm on endless days' Proceeds from this book will be donated to NHS Charities Together. In respect of UK sales, this will be £2.10 and in respect of sales in other territories this will be 16% of net receipts (at least 62p). NHS Charities Together is a charity registered in England and Wales (registered charity no. 1186569).

The Brutish Museums
The Brutish Museums

Author: Dan Hicks

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781786806833

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Walk into any European museum today and you will see the curated spoils of Empire. They sit behind plate glass: dignified, tastefully lit. Accompanying pieces of card offer a name, date and place of origin. They do not mention that the objectsare all stolen. Few artefacts embody this history of rapacious and extractive colonialism better than the Benin Bronzes - a collection of thousands of brass plaques and carved ivory tusks depicting the history of the Royal Court of the Obas of BeninCity, Nigeria. Pillaged during a British naval attack in 1897, the loot was passed on to Queen Victoria, the British Museum and countless private collections. The story of the Benin Bronzes sits at the heart of a heated debate about cultural restitution, repatriation and the decolonisation of museums. In The Brutish Museums, Dan Hicks makes a powerful case for the urgent return of such objects, as part of a wider project of addressing the outstanding debt of colonialism.

Ancient Rome as a Museum
Ancient Rome as a Museum

Author: Steven Rutledge

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-04-26

Total Pages: 421

ISBN-13: 0199573239

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Ancient Rome as a Museum considers how cultural objects from the Roman Empire came to reflect, construct, and challenge Roman perceptions of power and identity. Rutledge argues that Roman cultural values are indicated in part by what sort of materials Romans deemed worthy of display and how they chose to display, view, and preserve them.