Abstract Summary
One of the most successful natural history publications of late eighteenth-century Britain was British Zoology, authored by the Welsh naturalist, Thomas Pennant (1726–98). This book, that met four major editions between 1766 and 1812, was produced in a range of different formats and contains numerous copper-plate images based on specimens from Pennant’s natural history collection. Pennant used two main systems of classification in British Zoology. The first, which he used for quadrupeds and birds, was that devised by John Ray in the late seventeenth century. The second, which he used for aquatic organisms, such as fish and shells, was the system developed by Linnaeus from the 1730s. Pennant’s decision to use these alternate classificatory systems was influenced by his different approaches to observing terrestrial and marine animals in the field. Whereas he tended to classify aquatic creatures according to their physical characteristics, in the case of birds and quadrupeds he took into account the sounds they made, their social attributes, and preferred environment. This classificatory divide shaped the physical makeup of the book, which Pennant distributed to ‘every country gentlemen’, utilizing commercial publishing markets. However, Pennant was careful to adhere to gentlemanly etiquette, ensuring that he never directly profited from his publications, showing how natural history collecting and debates regarding classificatory practices were intertwined with the late eighteenth-century commercial publishing industry.
