A Brief Survey of the Literature and Iconography of Descriptive Ornithology in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Abstract

A retrospective view of the literary history of ornithology from the earliest times to the close of the 18th century will show that it began to assert its scientific independence only at the end of that period. At the beginning of the 19th century ornithology had become practically a separate and specific study which had made itself freer from its immediate connection with general cultural development than it had been previously. Its progress from now on was determined by scientific students of birds. At the same time there was a great increase in the quantity of literary material, caused by the growing democratization of science. The production of illustrations executed by hand also became greater in the early and middle 19th century than ever before or after.