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North America's First Color Plate Natural History Publication

The Carolina Parokeet illustrated here by Mark Catesby in 1729, was once a commonly found species in Eastern North America however the species has been declared extinct since 1939. Mark Catesby's  Natural History of Carolina, Florida & the Bahama Islands, from which this depiction of the Carolina Parokeet comes, is  widely considered a crowning achievement of 18th-century art and science, and it has lost none of its power to delight in the 250 years since its publication. 

CATESBY, MARK (1683 – 1749) VOL.I, TAB. 11, THE PARROT OF CAROLINA

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Painted and etched by Mark Catesby (1638 - 1749)
Etching with hand color, paper dimensions: approximately 14 x 19 inches
From Volume I, Part 1 of Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida & the Bahama Islands
London: 1729 - 1771

Currently known as the Carolina papakeet, Conuropsis carolinensis and bald cypress or swamp cypress, Taxodium distichum*, Catesby described this subject as follows:

PSITTICUS CAROLINIENSIS.

The Parrot of Carolina.

This Bird is of the bigness, or rather less than a Black-bird, weighing three ounces and an half: the fore-part of the Head Orange-colour; the hind-part of the Head and Neck yellow. All the rest of the Bird appears green; but upon nearer crutiny the interior vanes of most of the wing-feathers are dark-brown: the upper-parts of the exterior vanes of the larger Wing or Quill-feathers, are yellow, proceeding gradually deeper colour'd to the end, from yellow to green, and from green to blue: the edge of the Shoulder of the Wing, for about three inches down, is bright Orange-colour. The Wings are very long, as is the Tail; having the two middle-feathers longer than the others by an inch and half, and end in a point; the rest are gradually shorter. The Legs and Feet are white: the small Feather covering the Thighs, are green, ending at the Knees with a verge of Orange-colour. They feed on Seeds and Kernels of fruit; particularly those of Cypress and Apples. The Orchards in Autumn are visited by numerous flights of them; where they make great destruction for their Kernels only: for the same purpose they frequent Virginia; which is the furthest North I ever heard they have been seen. Their Guts are certain and speedy poison to Cats. This is the only one of the Parrot kind in Carolina: some of them breed in the Country; but most of 'em retire more South.

The CYPRESS of America.

The Cypress (except the Tulip-tree) is the tallest and largest in these parts of the world. Near the ground some of 'em measure 30 foot in circumference, rising pyramidally six foot, where it is about two thirds less; from which to the limbs, which is usually 60 or 70 foot, it grows in like proportion of other trees. Four or five foot round this Tree (in a singular manner) rise many Stumps, some a little above ground, and others from one to four foot high, of various shape and size, their tops round, cover'd with a smooth red Bark. These Stumps shoot from the roots of the Tree, yet they produce neither Leaf nor Branch, the Tree increasing only by seed, which in form are like the common Cypress and contain a balsamic consistence of a fragrant smell. The Timber this Tree affords, is excellent, and particularly for covering Houses with, it being light, of a free Grain, and resisting the Injuries of the weather better than any other here. It is an Aquatic, and usually grows from one, five and six foot deep in water; which secure situation seems to invite a great number of different Birds to breed in its lofty branches; amongst which this Parrot delights to make its Nest, and in October, (at which Time the Seed is ripe) to feed on their Kernels.

Mark Catesby (1683 – 1749)

Facts regarding Catesby’s early years are scant. It is known that he was born in the ancient market town of Sudbury, England to a father who was a legal practitioner and mayor of Sudbury and to a mother from an old Essex family.  It seems that he received an understanding of Latin and French and was familiar with the eminent naturalist Reverend John Ray. Following his father’s death, he was endowed with the means to pursue his interest in the natural history of North America.

Catesby arrived in Virginia in 1712 as the guest of his sister and her husband, Dr. William Cocke, an aid the Governor of the colony.  Soon he was acquainted with the well-connected William Byrd, a Fellow of the Royal Society whose diary contains passages discussing Catesby’s strong curiosity with all things relating to North America. 

This included plants native to the fields and woods of Virginia through which Catesby traveled, collecting examples of botanical specimens unfamiliar in England, which he illustrated and sent back to his uncle, Nicholas Jekyll and the apothecary and botanist, Samuel Dale.

Catesby’s first trip to the New World was extensive and included a visit to Jamaica. Although he felt that his approach to a larger understanding of its natural history was lacking in structure, his experience would inform his future expeditions. 

Following his return to London in 1719 Catesby resolved to return to the colonies and gather additional information for his illustrated Natural History... He gained the financial support of members of the local scientific community, many of who were members of the Royal Society keen to send a naturalist to Carolina who could provide an accurate account of its resources.  Among those who belonged to the Royal Society was William Sherard, who after examining Catesby’s drawings, was key in advancing the project. With further backing by Sir Hans Sloane, court physician and naturalist whose collection would form the basis for The British Museum, Catesby sailed to Carolina in 1722.

Catesby’s four years of travels following his second arrival in North America brought him throughout South Carolina, parts of Georgia, and the Bahamas. He was 

intent on visiting the same location at different times throughout the year in order to observe his subjects as they developed. In addition to gathering botanical specimens of potential horticultural importance, he also acquired birds and other creatures.  

Catesby’s patrons in London were eager to receive examples of the varieties of plants and animals he encountered but collecting, packaging, and sending them back to England served as a distraction to his intended Natural History...  Nevertheless, he continued to observe, paint, and write descriptions of the previously un-investigated wildlife he encountered on the shores and in the swamps, woods, and fields of the middle American colonies.

Catesby returned to England from his final voyage to America in 1726 and spent the next seventeen years preparing his Natural History... He envisioned his work containing colored plates reproducing his studies from nature in a substantial, folio-sized format, an achievement nearly unprecedented in earlier natural history publications. Catesby arranged for financing in the form of an interest-free loan from the Quaker Peter Collinson, a fellow of the Royal Society. Nevertheless, the cost of paying professionals to prepare his delineations on copper plates for printing was too great. To this end, with the assistance of Joseph Goupy (1689–1769), a French artist living in London, he taught himself to etch.  In addition to producing nearly all of the plates for his publication, Catesby closely supervised the coloring of the engravings, either painting the impressions himself or closely overseeing the work to insure its fidelity to his preparatory work. To further finance the project Catesby sold subscriptions, offering his book in sections of 20 plates to be published every four months.

The first volume of Natural History of Carolina, Florida & the Bahama Islands, containing one hundred plates, was completed in 1731 and no doubt facilitated his election as a fellow of the Royal Society in February, 1733. The second volume, also containing one hundred plates, was finished in 1743 and was supplemented with twenty plates based on information sent to Catesby by John Bartram and others in in America appeared in 1746–1747. Of the approximately 180 - 200 copies of the first edition produced, roughly 80 copies remain complete and accounted for and there are an unknown number in private collections. A second edition was issued by George Edwards in 1754 and a third edition, published by Benjamin White, in 1771 who continued to print examples of the plates until at least 1816. As early as 1749 editions were produced for the European market with translations of the text in German, Latin, and Dutch. In these the plates for the first volume and appendix were re-etched by Johann Michael Seligmann and the plates for the second volume re-etched by Nicolaus Friedrich Eisenberger and Georg Lichtensteger.  

Catesby’s tenacity resulted in a sweeping and compelling study of American plants, animals, and marine life native to little documented lands in which he strove to assign scientific nomenclature to his subjects. Indeed, Linnaeus, in his 1758 Systema Naturae, made use of much information brought to light by Catesby using it as the foundation of his system of binomial nomenclature for American species.

Throughout the production of his Natural History…Catesby lived in London with his Elizabeth Rowland with whom he had four children and married in 1747, before his death in 1749.

*From James L. Reveal’s Identification of the plants and animals illustrated by Mark Catesby for The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama islands in the appendix of The Curious Mr. Catesby, University of Georgia Press.