Böcker av Thomas Pennant

The naturalist Thomas Pennant published this account of his journey through Scotland and its islands in 1774. His great enthusiasm was for the Hebrides, and more than half of the book describes his voyage around the islands. This is a genial account of a region still exotic to many Britons.

This 1784 two-volume work by Thomas Pennant (1726-98), zoologist and traveller, describes the wildlife of northern America, Europe and Siberia. Volume 1 describes the various habitats of the Arctic and its indigenous quadrupeds. Other works by Thomas Pennant are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

In this 1782 travelogue, naturalist Thomas Pennant (1726-98) immortalised the local history, churches, homes and antiquities he encountered on his yearly trip to London. In The Literary Life of the Late Thomas Pennant, Esq. (1793), also reissued in this series, Pennant writes that he often stayed several days or more in each village to learn about its history. He hoped to rid the route of the 'calumny' of 'dulness', and although he was more interested in antiquities than contemporary innovations, he describes the impact of some developments such as a new canal system. In addition to describing places and artefacts which have since been altered or lost, Pennant's writing unconsciously reveals the workings of his thorough mind, with its seemingly tireless capacity for observation. Featuring twenty-two engravings, this book contains a full account of Pennant's 1780 journey, as well as the description of an alternative route beginning in Northamptonshire.

The naturalist and traveller Thomas Pennant (1726-98) helped popularise British ornithology by meticulously compiling and arranging existing research. At the age of twelve, Pennant had been given Francis Willughby's Ornithology (1678), to which he credited his lifelong love of natural history. His own writings on ornithology are heavily based on the classification system devised by Willughby and John Ray, which divides birds primarily into land birds and waterfowl. Although Pennant's brief, accessible book brought few original insights to the field, it boosted public interest in the study and classification of birds. The detailed descriptions of the appearance and habits of each bird are enlivened by the author's elegant turns of phrase. This better-known 1781 version of the 1773 original includes fifteen fine engravings. Pennant's other zoological works include Arctic Zoology (1784-5) and his History of Quadrupeds (third edition, 1793), both of which are reissued in this series.

Thomas Pennant (1726-98) is remembered for his work in bringing natural history to popular attention and for his engaging travel writing. With a number of fine engravings, this work, first published in 1771 and reissued here in its second edition of 1772, is typical of Pennant's output. More than a mere travelogue, it recounts his tour - via Tayside, Inverness, Wick and Fort William - of the Scottish Highlands, then largely unknown to outsiders but of notable interest to students of natural history. The volume is of particular significance for its meticulous descriptions of significant locations, buildings and wildlife, revealing Pennant's thorough mind and tireless capacity for observation, and also for its methodology: Pennant drew on local knowledge gathered by circulating queries in advance (these are included as an appendix). Several of Pennant's other works, including his Tour in Wales, are also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Thomas Pennant (1726-98) is remembered for his work in bringing natural history to popular attention and for his engaging travel writing. This lavishly illustrated tour of his native country, first published in two volumes between 1778 and 1791, is full of delightful vignettes and historical background.

Thomas Pennant (1726-98) is remembered for his work in bringing natural history to popular attention and for his engaging travel writing. This lavishly illustrated tour of his native country, first published in two volumes between 1778 and 1791, is full of delightful vignettes and historical background.

The humorously self-styled 'late' Thomas Pennant (1726-98) published this short autobiographical survey in 1793. A prominent Welsh naturalist and antiquary, he was known more for his energy and meticulous methodology than for original scientific genius. Yet he helped popularise natural history with beautifully illustrated works such as his History of Quadrupeds, the third edition of which is also reissued in this series. Moreover, he is credited with preserving thorough records of antiquities that were later damaged or destroyed. Samuel Johnson, who toured Scotland after Pennant, praised him as 'the best traveller I ever read'. More than a mere travelogue, Pennant's Literary Life is full of delightful vignettes - his meeting with the 'wicked wit' Voltaire, his affection for his faithful servant and illustrator Moses Griffith, and his poetic critique of certain hypocritical clergy. The appendices contain several of Pennant's shorter pieces on diverse topics, from anthropology to politics.