The Royal Collection, held at Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace and Holyroodhouse, has been shaped by royal taste over five hundred years. In "Amazing Rare Things", the collection's natural history artworks are supplemented by an introduction and commentary by David Attenborough. This exploration of the natural world from the late fifteenth century to the early eighteenth century represents a period when European knowledge of the world was transformed by voyages of discovery to the farthest reaches of Africa, Asia, America and beyond. Included are works by Leonardo da Vinci and other artists and collectors of their time who embraced the natural riches of their ever-expanding world and whose legacies help us to understand our continuing relationship with the natural world.

About the Author

Sir David Attenborough's career as a pioneer documentary filmmaker and advocate for understanding the natural world spans more than fifty years. His co-authors curate the drawings of the Royal Collection.

Reviews

It's been ages since the Queen of England invited me over to see her pictures. Not to worry-I've got 160 marvelous examples from her collection (held at the Royal Library at Windsor Castle) in this catalog of natural history drawings and watercolors. Among the offerings are 18 drawings by Leonardo da Vinci of plants and animals, accompanied by a short essay by curator Martin Clayton. Renaissance scholar Cassiano Dal Pozzo's "Paper Museum" illustrates oddities ranging from the pouch of a pelican to the internals of a double melon. The concept of a Wunderkammer, aka a cabinet of curiosity, is one of the topics researcher Rea Alexandratos covers. And curator Susan Owens writes the last three sections, which partly explore the astonishing watercolors of Frankfurt-born Maria Sibylla Merian, who as a middle-aged widow traveled to the jungles of Surinam in 1699 to study moths and butterflies. Merian is not well known-and she deserves to be. Her brightly colored images of plants and insects-with swirling designs and strange distortions of size-approach the hallucinatory. All the essays and naturalist Attenborough's introduction are written for a general audience. The paper and print quality is superb, with an amazing level of detail visible in the color plates. Recommended for public and academic libraries.-David McClelland, Seoul, Korea Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

A book to savor . . . sumptuous . . . transcendent.