Landmark Mark Catesby Natural HIstory Acquired by Missouri Botanical Garden

The Missouri Botanical Garden has acquired a rare first edition of Mark Catesby’s The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands.

The work was the first fully illustrated natural history of any part of North America. Featuring flora and fauna that populated the southeastern United States and the Caribbean in the 18th century, the project was several decades in the making. It shaped Carl Linnaeus’ understanding of the species of North America, helped to define a new naturalistic style of botanical and zoological art, and provided a framework for later scientists. Fewer than 100 first editions are in known collections.

The Garden’s Peter H. Raven Library, which aims to preserve every book and article in which a new plant is named, already owns the second and third editions but this first edition features richly hand-colored plates by Catesby and contains more than 200 etchings. This edition contains the same plates that Linnaeus cited in his own groundbreaking work. 
 
“I am so pleased to find an ideal permanent home for these volumes at the Missouri Botanical Garden, an institution that has long been important to my family,” said Dorothy Stephens Gray who made the donation. “Not only is this book great for botanists, but it covers so many fields of study, including history."

The two volumes will undergo conservation in the Garden’s Book Conservation Lab, conducted by the only full-time in-house library book conservator in St. Louis. Following that, the books will be available to researchers in the library’s Rare Book Room by appointment. The Garden is also working to develop an exhibition to display the books in the library and incorporate them into additional educational opportunities.

“These extraordinary volumes are a gift not only to the Garden’s library, but also to the field of botany and to all those who value scientific knowledge and the natural world,” said Garden President and Director Lúcia Lohmann. “We are deeply grateful for Deecy’s generosity and for her commitment to ensuring that these treasures remain accessible to future generations. Scientists, students, artists, and scholars from a wide range of disciplines will benefit from this remarkable gift for many decades to come.”