The rare book on display from our special collections is: Tortoises, terrapins, and turtles drawn from life, by James de Carle Sowerby and Edward Lear. London, Paris and Frankfort: Henry Sotheran, Joseph Baer & Co.; 1872. Balfour Library shelf mark: qWN (1)The book is open at: Plate 27 Emys Spinosa. Bell. (Young). This plate contains two amazingly fine, detailed lithographs of a young spiny turtle from the Emydidae family of turtles. The turtle has been given some real character in its depiction. Emydidae bask on land but enter slow-moving water to feed, and are mainly carnivorous. Usually there is no reduction of the shell, and the limbs are flattened with webbed, clawed toes. There are about 80 species, distributed widely in temperate zones, except southern Africa and Australia.
The plates in this book were lithographed by Edward Lear (1812-1888), a landscape painter and writer now chiefly remembered for his nonsense verse. He was the most accomplished lithographer of his time and contributed illustrations to many natural history volumes.
This book is being displayed in association with the Museum of Zoology’s event 'The Quangle Wangle’s Hat', a free, artist-led drawing activity inspired by the words and pictures of Edward Lear, on Tuesday 28th October. The event has been organised as part of the Campaign for Drawing’s Big Draw 2008, see http://www.thebigdraw.org.uk/.
