#objectsofwonder

[biodivlibrary]

BHL Book Feature: Museum Kircherianum

Musaeum Kircherianum sive musaeum was authored by Filippo Buonanni (1638-1725), a student of Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680). Kircher was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who amassed a large collection of natural history objects. In 1651, the Jesuit college for which he worked, Collegium Romanum, acquired an additional large collection of fossils. Kircher combined these fossils with his own collection to create the Museum Kircherianum, one of the very first public museums. Buonanni, a student of Kircher’s and the curator of Museum Kircherianum, authored the catalog of this vast collection. This work was digitized by @smithsonianlibraries.

The museum included the usual biodiversity suspects, like the reptiles and insects on the plate above, but it also included anthropological items, like these delightfully illustrated shoes! 

Explore our other books in our Objects of Wonder collection featured this week: Istoria Naturale (1599) and Museum Wormianum (1655). We also explored Albertus Seba’s Cabinet of Curiosities (1734-65) awhile back.

Thanks to the #BHLstore, you can bring the wonder home and help support science at the same time. 100% of the proceeds from the store will be used to digitize more books more BHL. Shop today!

[biodivlibrary]

BHL Book Feature: Istoria Naturale

The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and The Field Museum are currently featuring exhibits displaying significant objects from their collections. The National Museum's Objects of Wonder exhibit will feature hundreds of rarely-displayed objects from the Smithsonian's collection. The Field Museum's Specimens: Unlocking the Secrets of Life will explore the stories behind a selection of significant objects from its collection of over 30 million specimens and artifacts.

BHL’s collection includes many #ObjectsofWonder, such as those featured in works celebrating early "wonder-rooms," or cabinets of curiosity. Our featured illustration comes from Dell'historia naturale di Ferrante Imperato (1599), which is the first published pictorial representation of a Renaissance cabinet of curiosity. Naples pharmacist Ferrante Imperato (1550-1625) cataloged his collection, which may have held as many as 35,000 plant, animal and mineral specimens!

Stay tuned this week for more books featuring Objects of Wonder. Not too long ago, we did a BHL Book Feature on Albertus Seba’s Cabinet of Curiosities, so be sure to check out those posts! Dell'historia naturale di Ferrante Imperato (1599) was digitized by @smithsonianlibraries.

[biodivlibrary]

BHL Book Feature: Museum Wormianum

Ole Worm (1588-1654) was a 17th century Danish physician, linguist, and natural philosopher, and we think his name is pretty fantastic. He collected an impressive number of natural history specimens, which he displayed in his home. Museum Wormianum (1655) was published after his death, and it is a catalog of his museum. After Worm's death, his natural history collection passed to the King Frederik III of Denmark, where it became part of the Royal 'Kunstkammer' or Cabinet of Curiosities.

We are featuring books about Cabinets of Curiosities filled with #ObjectsofWonder along with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and The Field Museum who have current exhibitions of their objects of wonder. Museum Wormianum (1655) was digitized by @smithsonianlibraries.

[greyloch]

Mogul Emerald necklace Seen at #objectsofwonder exhibit in the Smithsonian’s #nationalmuseumofnaturalhistory #emerald #smithsonian #museum #jewelry #sonya7III https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf7LoRdlcR3/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[starkillerqueen]

The last Passenger Pigeon #objectsofwonder (at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History)

[babble-drabble]

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Dinosaur vs. Hummingburd. #asbuk2017 #smithsonianlibraries #objectsofwonder (at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History)

[karonf]

1875 Tsimshian House Front #objectsofwonder @smithsoniannmnh

[babble-drabble]

A brief glimpse into the Objects of Wonder exhibit before my phone died. It was amazing! #objectsofwonder #asbuk2017 #smithsonianlibraries (at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History)