Henry Dresser and Victorian Ornithology: Birds, Books and Business Hardcover - 2017

From the rear cover

Henry Dresser (1838-1915) was one of the most successful and influential ornithologists of the Victorian era, described by one contemporary as 'quite a character in an age of individualism'. A wealthy businessman and natural history collector, Dresser travelled widely on business in Europe, Canada, the United States and Mexico, before settling down to work in London in the timber and iron trades. He built enormous collections of bird skins and eggs from Europe, the Arctic, North America and Asia, which he sourced from famous travellers and collectors at the forefront of scientific exploration, as well as his own travels. These collections formed the basis of over 100 publications on birds, including some of the finest of the great bird books of the late nineteenth century, combining cutting-edge scientific information with masterpieces of bird illustration. Henry Dresser and Victorian ornithology is based on a wealth of previously unpublished letters, diaries and photographs in museums and archives in the UK, US, Canada and Russia. These are used to provide the first detailed biography of any of the independent industrialist-naturalists who were integral in shaping nineteenth-century British ornithology. It explores his friendships - and disagreements - with his fellow ornithologists, and also tells the extraordinary story of the fourteen months he spent in Texas and Mexico during the American Civil War. Dresser played a key role in scientific society at a time of great transformation, and helped to establish the first bird conservation laws in Britain.