Edward Wilson's Nature Notebooks by David M. Wilson

David spends much of his time working to promote our historic Antarctic heritage and is recently retired as Chairman of the Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, UK. Not least amongst these is his great uncle, Dr Edward Wilson, who died with Captain Scott and his party on their return from the South Pole in 1912.

He boasts numerous explorers and ornithologists on his family tree, which add a uniquely personal flavour to many of his talks. These have led to ten years of working on Expedition cruise ships, where he is in increasing demand both as an ornithological field guide and as an historian. With a strong interest in Aboriginal cultures, he also has a wide range of ornithological and natural history interests. Having an early career in the theatre, he moved on to study at the United World College of the Pacific and the Universities of York and Essex, where he trained as a philosopher. Additionally, there is a short biography at the start of each chapter, concentrating on his scientific and artistic progress, and a selection of the Antarctic work so the reader can see the continuous artistic and scientific development. There is also a selection of quotations from the Notebooks' observations and annotations, in keeping with the scrapbook flavour of many of the pages. It contains the bulk of Edward Wilson's non-Antarctic work - from the Notebooks and other sources - reproduced here in chronological order, showing his development as an artist.

Two books - the 'Nature Notebooks' were given to his nephew, Michael Wilson, whose sons have edited this volume. Eagle Clarke's 'A History of British Birds', a cancelled publication.Īfter his death, his wife, Oriana, arranged the notebooks and distributed many of them amongst the family. He used them as the basis for his illustrations of Barrett-Hamilton's 'A History of British Mammals', and started to use them for illustrating W. On the return journey the expedition hit unseasonably bad weather and Wilson died along with team members Scott and Bowers on 29 March.Įdward Wilson drew all his life, collecting his drawings into indexed volumes he called his 'stock in trade'. The expedition reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912 after a journey of nearly a year. During the expedition Wilson studied and drew biological specimens, and made finished watercolours. The 'Terra Nova' sailed via Madeira, South Trinidad, South Africa and Australia, to New Zealand from where she set sail for the Antarctic on 24 January 1911. Edward Wilson is remembered as the artist of the British Antarctic Expedition of 1910-1912, led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

Edward Wilson's Nature Notebooks by David M. Wilson