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Paleoart

This magnificently illustrated book describes and depicts images of paleo art from the inception of the field, in the 1830s, to the modern era. Paleoart, unique in its literary field, includes beautifully reproduced paintings, drawings, tile mosaics, etc. from collections around the world. Each example represents a mixture of science and fantasy as artists have attempted to visualize extinct life in its long-ago environment. Some art used in this volume was taken from the archives and collection of the Smithsonian’s Paleobiology collection. 

Hunting Monsters

You might be wondering why the Smithsonian Libraries would choose a book based on beasts from fantasy, but behind every myth is some truth. The family of “cryptids” includes such familiar creatures as Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Loch Ness Monster, plus several other questionable beasts of land and sea. This book, illustrated with black-and-white photos and drawings, attempts to apply the scientific method to reports of these mythological creatures. The goal is to separate fact from fiction, i.e., what is pure imagination from what is actually possible.

La Vie des Mammifères et des Hommes Fossiles

The title translates as "The life of mammals and fossilized humans, deciphered using comparative anatomy of the chewing organs.” This book's author, Mr. Sanielevici, believed that analysis of the processes and organs involved in chewing and digesting would explain the evolution of humans and mammals. In his ideology, ethnicity, racial diversity, and even personality are derived from historic and regional dietary trends: you are what you eat.

Kurtze Betrachtung Derer Kräuterabdrücke im Steinreiche

Schulze, a German physician (1730-1775) with interests in mineralogy and paleontology, was a pioneer of paleobotany, the study of fossil plants. He is credited with recognizing the true nature of fossils, rejecting the supernatural explanations that had held sway for centuries. The Smithsonian Libraries already holds a related publication by Schulze concerning fossil woods; this one is on plants more generally, and the six copper plate engravings in the book are some of the earliest published images of plants preserved in rock sediments.

Epistola de Praecipuis Naturae et Artis Curiosis Speciminibus Musei

The natural history rare book collection includes a growing body of publications describing, cataloging, illustrating, and/or discussing early natural history cabinets and specimen collections. They are important to scientific researchers for identifying collections and individual specimens that are referenced in taxonomic works (and that may have served as the type on which a new species was named). In this short publication, Friedrich Christian Lesser (1692-1754) describes a number of specimens in his natural history cabinet.

Esquisses Ornithologiques: Descriptions et Figures d'Oiseaux Nouveaux ou Peu Connus

A Dutch/Belgian ornithologist and paleontologist, du Bus amassed a private collection of almost 2500 bird specimens upon which he based this work and which he donated to the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences when he became its director in 1846. Describing and illustrating species new to Western science, the Esquisses ornithologiques was issued in parts, with five hand-colored lithographs and corresponding text in each; SIL holds the first three parts (of seven total), with their original printed wrappers.