Natural History of Selborne

The Natural History of Selborne (1789) is written as a series of letters, which describe with wit and precision the flora and fauna White observes in his Hampshire parish. A classic of nature writing, this edition includes contemporary illustrations, a contextualizing introduction, and an appendix of readers' responses over 200 years.

About the author

Gilbert White was born in 1720 in Selborne in Hampshire and went to Oriel College, Oxford, where he became a Fellow in 1743. He took ordination and held a number of curacies in the vicinity of Selborne before finally becoming permanent curate of his birthplace in 1784, a position he held until his death in 1793. In 1751 he started keeping his 'Garden Kalendar', and later the 'Naturalist's Journal' he kept for 25 years. The Natural History of Selborne is based on his correspondence with two distinguished naturalists, Thomas Pennant and Daines Barrington.

Anne Secord is an Affiliated Research Scholar in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge. The focus of her research and writing is on popular natural history in nineteenth-century Britain, and on horticulture, medicine, and consumption in the eighteenth century. She is completing a book that explores social class, observation, and skill in nineteenth-century natural history for the University of Chicago Press.

Summary

The Natural History of Selborne (1789) is written as a series of letters, which describe with wit and precision the flora and fauna White observes in his Hampshire parish. A classic of nature writing, this edition includes contemporary illustrations, a contextualizing introduction, and an appendix of readers' responses over 200 years.

Additional text

'This Oxford edition offers new insights into a work that has been hugely popular. '

Product details

• Authors: Gilbert White
• Assisted by: Anne Secord (Editor), Secord Anne (Editor)
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.07.2022
• EAN: 9780192847447
• ISBN: 978-0-19-284744-7
• No. of pages: 352
• Series: Oxford World's Classics; Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection
• Subjects: Guides > Nature; Humanities, art, music > History; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Ecology; Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Environmental Policy, NATURE / Animals / Wildlife, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Environmentalist thought & ideology, The countryside, country life: general interest, Wildlife: general interest, The countryside, country life, Nature and the natural world: general interest, Environmentalist thought and ideology, C 1700 To C 1800