Joan Webb
A Birdstuffer's Library
297 x 210mm, 100pp, Soft cover with colour illustrations
Book of the Month February 2010
Australian: $55 (Approx. US $57, Euro €44)
150
ISBN 97809580227731
Worldwide 7 - 10 days, Australia 3 - 7 business days
About the Book
George Caley (1770-1829) was a nineteenth century English naturalist who was a collector for Sir Joseph Banks in the colony of New South Wales from 1800 to 1810. Caley was not a gentleman, just the son of a Yorkshire horse dealer, yet he managed to educate himself, gain a 'smattering in the sciences', and earn the respect of the botanical fraternity of the day. Caley may not have been a gentleman, but his library would do credit to a middle-class gentleman of modest means. Both the man and his library deserve a place in history for a number of reasons, chiefly for what they reveal about the scientific community of the day, the cultural norms of England at the time of the Enlightenment, social mores, and world explorations. Dr Webb has written a thoroughly engaging and meticulously researched volume analysing his library, a rare account of the library of a nineteenth century naturalist.
About the Author
Dr Joan Webb is a retired university lecturer and author. She taught science in a number of New South Wales secondary schools before moving into teacher education in 1975 where she developed a keen interest in environmental education. Her biography George Caley - Nineteenth Century Naturalist (1995) is one of several biographies she has written as well as texts on botanical science. In recognition of her contribution to environmental education in Thailand over a period of twenty-eight years she was awarded two honorary degrees, conferred by the Crown Prince, B.Ed, in 1996 and Ph.D. in 2005. She has two sons and two grandsons.