Fish with a different angle: 'The Fresh-Water Fishes of Great Britain' by Mrs Sarah Bowdich (1791-1856)
Fish with a different angle: 'The Fresh-Water Fishes of Great Britain' by Mrs Sarah Bowdich (1791-1856)
Since first appearance, reviews and accounts of The Fresh-Water Fishes of Great Britain (1828–1838) have been surprisingly few. All agree that this rare work is remarkable for its illustrations. Its importance as a whole in the history of ichthyology, however, is largely unknown, or ignored. This article therefore constitutes the first study of the textual and contextual significance of The Fresh-Water Fishes of Great Britain. By examining in chronological order where, and by whom, the work was first reviewed and referenced until the 1860s, the extraordinary contributions that its author, Sarah Bowdich, made to ichthyology at the forefront of the field in the late 1820s can better be appreciated. Indeed, this multiple evidence demonstrates Sarah Bowdich’s merits as an ichthyologist of the first order, and as the first woman ichthyologist. But establishing the significance of The Fresh-Water Fishes of Great Britain for the history of ichthyology then raises a further question. Why has it and its author been so ignored or forgotten? By returning for answers to the fields of ichthyology already considered, the article proposes that Sarah Bowdich’s different angles on Fish offer lines of investigation that are still important for the field today.
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Orr, Mary
3eec40eb-479c-4c9a-b2da-7388a27f9d5c
Orr, Mary
3eec40eb-479c-4c9a-b2da-7388a27f9d5c
Orr, Mary
(2013)
Fish with a different angle: 'The Fresh-Water Fishes of Great Britain' by Mrs Sarah Bowdich (1791-1856).
Annals of Science, n/a, .
(doi:10.1080/00033790.2013.840927).
Abstract
Since first appearance, reviews and accounts of The Fresh-Water Fishes of Great Britain (1828–1838) have been surprisingly few. All agree that this rare work is remarkable for its illustrations. Its importance as a whole in the history of ichthyology, however, is largely unknown, or ignored. This article therefore constitutes the first study of the textual and contextual significance of The Fresh-Water Fishes of Great Britain. By examining in chronological order where, and by whom, the work was first reviewed and referenced until the 1860s, the extraordinary contributions that its author, Sarah Bowdich, made to ichthyology at the forefront of the field in the late 1820s can better be appreciated. Indeed, this multiple evidence demonstrates Sarah Bowdich’s merits as an ichthyologist of the first order, and as the first woman ichthyologist. But establishing the significance of The Fresh-Water Fishes of Great Britain for the history of ichthyology then raises a further question. Why has it and its author been so ignored or forgotten? By returning for answers to the fields of ichthyology already considered, the article proposes that Sarah Bowdich’s different angles on Fish offer lines of investigation that are still important for the field today.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 28 October 2013
Organisations:
Modern Languages and Linguistics
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Local EPrints ID: 359244
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/359244
ISSN: 0003-3790
PURE UUID: 8fa54580-2d8e-4679-8f13-f97a643d87a4
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Date deposited: 24 Oct 2013 08:32
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 15:18
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Mary Orr
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