Originally published on August 14, 2023 (Episode 329)
Introduction
Before John James Audubon there was Mark Catesby. In the early eighteenth century, Catesby twice journeyed through Virginia and South Carolina, exploring the landscapes of the southeastern corner of North America. Over the course of more than a decade, he collected seeds and plants to send back to gardeners and naturalists in England, captured specimens of animals and birds, and filled sketchbooks with drawings of what he saw.
Catesby’s work culminated in the Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, the first fully illustrated natural history of North American flora and fauna. It was groundbreaking: a work that combined scientific rigor, artistic beauty, and cultural insight. Yet despite his influence, Catesby remains largely unknown today.
Patrick Dean, author of Nature’s Messenger: Mark Catesby and his Adventures in a New World (Pegasus, 2023), joins me to tell Catesby’s story—how a curious Englishman ventured into colonial America, contributed to the scientific revolution of his time, and left behind a book that shaped natural history for centuries to come.
About the Guest
Patrick Dean’s first book, A Window to Heaven, chronicled the early expeditions to climb Denali. He lives in Sewanee, Tennessee.
For Further Investigation
Climbing Denali, a conversation with Patrick Dean about his first book
Patrick Dean, Nature’s Messenger: Mark Catesby and his Adventures in a New World (Pegasus, 2023)
Mark Catesby, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (digital edition available via the Biodiversity Heritage Library)
Julian Hoppit, A Land of Liberty?: England, 1689–1727 (New Oxford History of England)
Paul Langford, A Polite and Commercial People: England, 1727–1783 (New Oxford History of England)
John Brewer, Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century (Routledge, 2013)
Mark Catesby’s Nature Coloring Book: Drawings from the Royal Collection
💬 Listen & Discuss
What does Catesby’s story reveal about the connections between colonial America and European intellectual life? Share this podcast with anyone you know interested in the environment.
