Lister Copperplates Feature in ‘Nature’ News
Tags: Conchology, History of Science, Illustration, Martin Lister, Natural History, Women
Bodleian Library, Lister Copperplates 858 (plate 787), Conus Marmoreus
A collection of stunning copperplates from Martin Lister’s compendium of shells, Historiae Conchyliorum, assembled between 1685 and 1692, is receiving renewed attention after Cultures of Knowledge research fellow Dr Anna Marie Roos wrote about it in a recent Bodleian Libraries web post.
Martin Lister (1639-1712) collected thousands of shells and molluscs from around the world for his ground-breaking study, and his extensive correspondence reveals that he exchanged both ideas and specimens with other leading figures of his day, including Sir Hans Sloane and Edward Lhwyd.
- Bodleian Library, Lister Copperplates 162 (plate 350), the bear claw clam
When it came time to publish Historiae Conchyliorum, Lister also called upon the scientific and artistic expertise of his two daughters, Susanna and Anna Lister, who were the primary draftswomen for the copperplates and who may well have been the first women to use a microscope to assist them with their scientific illustrations.
Susanna and Anna’s copperplate etchings and other scientific drawings are currently being featured in an article and slideshow on the news page of the journal Nature, and the women’s role in early science is one of the topics discussed in Roos’s forthcoming biography of Lister, Spiderman: Martin Lister (1639-1712), Naturalist and Physician.
A collection-level description of Martin Lister’s manuscripts in the Bodleian, as well as a description of Martin Lister’s books now held by the Bodleian, are available on the library’s website. The copperplates are kept in preservation envelopes and individual plates can be located using a handlist available from the Bodleian Rare Books Section (rare.books(at)bodleian.ox.ac.uk).
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