Science Saturday
The great 19th-century evolutionist Charles Darwin was preceded in influence in Britain by his grandfather, the English physician and naturalist Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802). Erasmus Darwin published notable works on botany and evolution, and helped translate the works of Linnaeus into English. Darwin was also a poet, and his most popular work was The Botanic Garden: A Poem, in Two Parts. Part I: Containing the Economy of Vegetation and Part II: The Loves of the Plants, first published in 1791, and of which we present the third edition printed in London for Joseph Johnson in 1795.
The second part, “The Loves of the Plants,” which draws on Linnaeus's sexualized language, anthropomorphizing plants, was first published anonymously in 1789 to much popular success. Emboldened by the popular response, Darwin published both The Loves of the Plants and his more challenging poem The Economy of Vegetation together as The Botanic Garden in 1791. The Economy of Vegetation celebrates technological innovation and scientific discovery, as well as scientific conjecture, such as cosmology and evolution. The Botanic Garden was one of the first popular science books and was intended to pique readers' interest in science through poetry while educating them at the same time. An Advertisement that begins the book states:
The general design of the following sheets is to enlist imagination under the banner of science; and to lead her votaries from the looser analogies, which dress out the imagery of poetry, to the stricter ones, which for the ratiocination of philosophy. While their particular design to induce the ingenious to cultivate the knowledge of Botany, by introducing them to the vestibule of that delightful science, and recommending to their attention the immortal works of the celebrated Swedish naturalist, Linnaeus.Â
The publisher Joseph Johnson produced The Botanic Garden with illustrations by some of the most prominent English artists and engravers of the day, making the publication rather expensive at 21 shillings. Despite its hefty price, the book became a bestseller, going through four editions before the end of the century, multiple editions in Ireland and the U.S., and into an English fifth edition in 1824. Johnson himself eventually bought the copyright for The Botanic Garden from Darwin for the staggering sum of ÂŁ800.
The botanical illustrations shown here were engraved by the English illustrator, painter, and engraver Frederick Polydore Nodder. The allegorical image of “Flora Attired by the Elements” is by the noted Swiss artist Henry Fuseli and engraved by the English engraver Anker Smith. “Fertilization of Egypt,” also by Fuseli, was engraved by the incomparable William Blake. “Flora at Play with Cupid” is by the British artist Emma Crewe and engraved in aquatint by Samuel Alken.
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