Amazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery was published jointly by the Royal Collection and Yale University Press in 2007, written by Attenborough with Susan Owens, Martin Clayton, and Rea Alexandratos. The book draws on the extraordinary collection of natural history drawings and watercolors held in the British Royal Collection — one of the finest assemblages of natural history art in the world.
The book is organized around five artists or collections: Leonardo da Vinci (whose anatomical and botanical drawings from around 1500 demonstrate a scientific eye centuries ahead of its time), Cassiano dal Pozzo (whose “paper museum” of the 1630s attempted to create a comprehensive visual record of the natural world), Maria Sibylla Merian (whose expeditions to Surinam in 1699 produced some of the most beautiful and scientifically accurate insect illustrations ever made), Mark Catesby (whose Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands of 1731-43 was the first published account of American flora and fauna), and a group of artists who traveled with Captain Cook.
Attenborough’s contribution is to place these artworks in their scientific context — to explain what each artist saw, what they understood, and what their illustrations contributed to the development of natural history as a discipline. The book is gorgeously produced, with full-color reproductions of works that are rarely displayed publicly, and Attenborough’s commentary bridges the gap between art history and natural history with characteristic elegance.
Collecting Amazing Rare Things
First edition (Royal Collection / Yale University Press, 2007): Large format hardcover, illustrated.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $30–$80
- Very good/very good: $15–$40
- Signed: $80–$200