Overview
Watercolor drawings of birds, butterflies, plants, and correspondence of scientific illustrator and naturalist John Abbot.
Dates
- Creation: 1766-1887
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
1 linear feet (6 volumes)Contains over 600 watercolor drawings by Abbot of birds, butterflies, other insects, and plants, some with explanatory descriptions and notes. The work was done mostly in Georgia. Also includes correspondence about Abbot, a colored lithographic portrait of him, and one volume of insect drawings, 1830, considered the work of an inferior copyist.
Biographical / Historical
Abbot was a scientific illustrator and naturalist. Born in England, he emigrated to Virginia and settled in Georgia.
Physical Location
f
Immediate Source of Acquisition
46HM-2F-7F. Purchased with the Hofer fund from Boston Museum of Natural History; received: 1946 November 15.
Digitization Funding
Collections and items have been digitized with the generous support of The Polonsky Foundation.
- Title
- Abbot, John, 1751-1840. John Abbot notes and drawings, 1766-1887: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou00921
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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