Practical Taxidermy - A Manual of Instruction to the Amateur in Collecting, Preserving, and Setting up Natural History Specimens of All Kinds. To Which is Added a Chapter Upon the Pictorial Arrangement of Museums

Montagu Browne

Description

Practical Taxidermy - A Manual of Instruction To The Amateur In Collecting, Preserving, And Setting up Natural History Specimens of All Kinds This comprehensive manual on early taxidermy was published in London in 1884, and is much sought after by modern taxidermists for its wealth of detail and historical content. The author was curator of the Town Museum, Leicester, and considered to be one of England's foremost taxidermists. He intended this book... "to be an introduction to a delightful art, which must be wooed with patient determination and loving pains until technical skill invests it with beauty." Read Country Books has now re-published "Practical Taxidermy" in its entirety, using the original text, woodcuts and engravings. Its 368 pages are divided into sixteen detailed chapters : - The Rise and Progress of Taxidermy. - Decoying and Trapping Animals. - Necessary Tools. - Preservative Soaps, Powders, etc. - Skinning and Preserving Birds. - Skinning and Preserving Mammals. - Modelling of Animals by Substitution of Clay, Composition, Plaster Casts, or Wax for Loose Stuffing. - Skinning, Preserving, and Mounting Fish. - Skinning, Preserving and Mounting Reptiles. - Dressing and Softening Skins or Fur as Leather. - Relaxing and Cleaning Skins - "Making-Up" from Pieces. - Colouring Bills and Feet of Birds, Bare Skin of Mammals, Fishes, etc. - Making Skeletons of Animals. - Egg Collecting and Preserving. - Cases, Mounts, Shields, Cabinets, Rockwork, Ferns, Grasses, Sea-Weeds etc, for "Fitting-Up." - Artistic Mounting, Modelled Foliage Screens, Lamps, Natural History Jewellery, etc. - Collecting and Preserving Insects. - The Pictorial Arrangement of Museums. Etc. This previously rare book will prove to be a valuable addition to the library of all dedicated taxidermists. Many of the earliest sporting books, particularly those dating back to the 1800s, are now extremely scarce and very expensive. Read Country Books are reprinting these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions. These editions are republished using the original text and artwork.

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 08 janvier 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528769938
• Langue: English

Extrait

PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY
A
MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION TO THE AMATEUR
IN COLLECTING, PRESERVING, AND
SETTING UP NATURAL HISTORY SPECIMENS OF ALL KINDS.
TO WHICH IS ADDED A CHAPTER UPON
THE PICTORIAL ARRANGEMENT OF MUSEUMS.
ILLUSTRATED.
BY
MONTAGU BROWNE, F.Z.S., etc..,
Curator, Town Museum, Leicester.
Copyright 2013 Read Books Ltd.
This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Taxidermy
Taxidermy (from the Greek for arrangement of skin) is the art of preparing, stuffing, and mounting the skins of animals (especially vertebrates) for display (e.g. as hunting trophies) or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. A person who practices taxidermy is called a taxidermist. Taxidermists may practice professionally for museums or as businesses, catering to hunters and fishermen, or as amateurs, such as hobbyists, hunters, and fishermen. To practice taxidermy, one should be very familiar with anatomy, sculpture, and painting, as well as tanning.
The preservation of animal skins has been practiced for a long time. Embalmed animals have even been found with Egyptian mummies. Although embalming incorporates the use of lifelike poses, it is not technically considered taxidermy though. The earliest methods of preservation of birds for natural history cabinets were published in 1748 by the French Academician R aumur, and four years later, techniques for mounting were described by M. B. Stollas. By the eighteenth century, almost every town had a tannery business. In the nineteenth century, hunters began bringing their trophies to upholstery shops, where the upholsterers would actually sew up the animal skins and stuff them with rags and cotton. The term stuffing or a stuffed animal evolved from this crude form of taxidermy. Professional taxidermists prefer the term mounting to stuffing however. More sophisticated cotton-wrapped wire bodies supporting sewn-on cured skins soon followed.
In France, Louis Dufresne, taxidermist at the Mus um National d Histoire Naturelle from 1793, popularized arsenical soap (utilising the chemical Arsenic) in an article titled, Nouveau Dictionnaire D Histoire Naturelle (1803-1804). This technique enabled the museum to build the greatest collection of birds in the world. Dufresne s methods spread to England in the early nineteenth century, where updated and non-toxic methods of preservation were developed by some of the leading naturalists of the day, including Rowland Ward and Montague Brown. Ward established one of the earliest taxidermy firms, Rowland Ward Ltd. of Piccadilly. Nevertheless, the art of taxidermy remained relatively undeveloped, and the specimens that were created remained stiff and unconvincing.
The golden age of taxidermy was during the Victorian era, when mounted animals became a popular part of interior design and decor. For the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, John Hancock, widely considered the father of modern taxidermy, mounted a series of stuffed birds as an exhibit. They generated much interest among the public and scientists alike, who considered them superior to earlier models and were regarded as the first lifelike and artistic specimens on display. A judge remarked that Hancock s exhibit will go far towards raising the art of taxidermy to a level with other arts, which have hitherto held higher pretensions.
In the early twentieth century, taxidermy was taken forward under the leadership of artists such as Carl Akeley, James L. Clark, Coleman Jonas, Fredrick and William Kaempfer, and Leon Pray. These and other taxidermists developed anatomically accurate figures which incorporated every detail in artistically interesting poses, with mounts in realistic settings and poses. This was quite a change from the caricatures popularly offered as hunting trophies. The methods of taxidermy have substantially improved over the last century, heightening quality and lowering toxicity. The animal is first skinned in a process similar to removing the skin from a chicken prior to cooking. This can be accomplished without opening the body cavity, so the taxidermist usually does not see internal organs or blood. Depending on the type of skin, preserving chemicals are applied or the skin is tanned. It is then either mounted on a mannequin made from wood, wool and wire, or a polyurethane form. Clay is used to install glass eyes, which are either bought or cast by the taxidermist themselves.
As an interesting side note, with the success of taxidermy has come the sub-genre of rogue taxidermy ; the creation of stuffed animals which do not have real, live counterparts. They can represent impossible hybrids such as the jackalope and the skvader, extinct species, mythical creatures such as dragons, griffins, unicorns or mermaids, or may be entirely of the maker s imagination. When the platypus was first discovered by Europeans in 1798, and a pelt and sketch were sent to the UK, some thought the animal to be a hoax. It was supposed that a taxidermist had sewn a duck s beak onto the body of a beaver-like animal. George Shaw, who produced the first description of the animal in the Naturalist s Shunga Miscellany in 1799, even took a pair of scissors to the dried skin to check for stitches. Today, although a niche craft, the art of taxidermy - rogue or otherwise, is still thriving.
Plate I Peregrine Falcon on Flight
Showing Method of Binding etc..
Frontispiece - see chapter V
CONTENTS
Plate I Peregrine Falcon on Flight
PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION .
CHAPTER I. THE RISE AND PROGRESS of TAXIDERMY.
CHAPTER II. DECOYING AND TRAPPING ANIMALS.
Fig. 1 - Loop in wire. *
Fig. 2 - SPRINGE, OR SNARE FOR BIRDS. *
Fig. 3 - Springe FOR SNIPE. *
Fig. 4 - FIGURE of 4 TRAP. *
Fig. 5 - PLAN AND METHOD OF SETTING CLAP-NET. *
Fig. 6 , 7 8 - Play-stick parts *
Fig. 9 - FLUR OR PLAY-STICK. *
Fig. 10 - DECOY WHISTLE FOR THRUSHES, etc.. *
CHAPTER III. NECESSARY TOOLS.
Fig. 11 , 12 , 13 - SKINNING KNIVES. *
Fig. 14 - SCISSORS, No 1. pattern. *
Fig. 15 - SCISSORS, No 2. pattern. *
Fig. 16 - Bell-hangers Pliers. *
Fig. 17 - Cutting nippers. *
Fig. 18 - French Cutting Nippers *
Fig. 19 - Feather Pliers *
Fig. 20 - Tow Forceps *
Fig. 21 - Stuffing Iron *
CHAPTER IV. PRESERVATIVE SOAPS, POWDERS, ETC.
Plate II Skeleton of Peregrine Falcon *
CHAPTER V. SKINNING AND PRESERVING BIRDS.
Fig. 22 - Starling - Showing Position of First Incision and the Commencement of the Removal of the Skin *
Fig. 23 - Skin of Bird Turned Ready for Severance from Body *
Fig. 24 - Set or Drying Board for Birds Skins. *
Fig. 25 - Starling Properly Made Into a Skin With Label Attached. *
CHAPTER VI. SKINNING AND PRESERVING MAMMALS.
Plate III Skeleton of Otter *
Fig. 26 - SKULL OF HORNED HEAD, BLOCKED READY FOR MOUNTING. *
Fig. 27 - Neck-board for skin of head. *
CHAPTER VII. MODELLING OF ANIMALS BY SUBSTITUTION OF CLAY, COMPOSITION, PLASTER CASTS, OR WAX FOR LOOSE STUFFING.
Fig. 28 - Stag s head in plaster from clay model. *
Fig. 29 - Steel undercutting tool. *
Fig. 30 - Steel relieving tool. *
Fig. 31 - Back view of model with neck block inserted. *
Fig. 32 - False body of wood, with neck and tail wires attached. *
Fig. 33 - Section of half-inch board to represent ribs *
Plate IV. Lion mounted from the Flat . *
CHAPTER VIII. SKINNING, PRESERVING, AND MOUNTING FISH, AND CASTING FISHES IN PLASTER, etc..
Fig. 34 - Diagram of pike, showing skin removed on one side from lower half of body. *
CHAPTER IX. SKINNING, PRESERVING, AND MOUNTING REPTILES.
CHAPTER X. DRESSING AND SOFTENING SKINS OR FURS AS LEATHER.
Fig. 35 - Scraper with which to dress skins. *
CHAPTER XI RELAXING AND CLEANING SKINS- MAKING-UP FROM PIECES.
CHAPTER XII Colouring Bills And Feet Of Birds, Bare Skin Of Mammals, Fishes, Etc. - Restoring Shrunken Parts By A Wax Process - Drying And Colouring Ferns Grasses, Seaweeds, Etc. - Piece Moulds, And Modelling Fruit In Plaster - Preserving Spiders - Making Skeletons Of Animals, Skeleton Leaves Etc. - Polishing Horns, Shells, Etc. - Egg Collecting And Preserving - Additional Formulae, Etc.
Fig. 36 - Blow-pipe for inflating larvae *
Fig. 37 - Climbing iron *
CHAPTER XIII. CASES, MOUNTS, SHIELDS, EGG CABINETS, ROCKWORK, FERNS, GRASSES, SEA-WEEDS, ETC., FOR FITTING UP.
Fig. 38 - Plan of canted-corner case. *
Fig. 39 - Section of uprights or pillars of square case. *
Fig. 40 - Mitre block. *
CHAPTER XIV. GENERAL REMARKS ON ARTISTIC MOUNTING, MODELLED FOLIAGE, SCREENS, LAMPS, NATURAL HISTORY JEWELLERY, ETC.
CHAPTER XV. COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS.
Fig. 41 - Plan of ring net. *
Fig. 42 - Ring -net complete. *
Fig. 43 - The Hill sliding net, open. *
Fig. 44 - The Hill sliding net, closed. *
Fig. 45 - The Hill sliding net ready for use. *
Fig. 46 - Sugaring net. *
Fig. 47 - Section of Setting Board *
Fig. 48 - Butterfly braced on board. *
Fig. 49 - Section of division strips. *
Fig. 50 - Front of setting-board box, with flaps open. *
Fig. 51 - Sugaring can. *
Fig. 52 - Impaler. *
Fig. 53 - Diaphragm bottle. *
Fig. 54 - Sugaring drum. *
Fig. 55 - Assembling cage. *
Fig. 56 - Cage for collecting larvae