William Bartram’s Visual Wonders: The Botanical Drawings of an American Naturalist

Athens gives a remarkably in-depth analysis of the style and technique of William Bartram that will particularly interest students of visual history. * Pennsylvania Heritage * Beautifully written and deeply researched, William Bartram’s Visual Wonders presents a close reading of Bartram’s natural history illustrations and place in the transatlantic world of botanical exchange and knowledge formation. -- Romita Ray, Syracuse University Through exquisite formal analyses of Bartram’s drawings, coupled with rich historical considerations of his place in the tradition of botanical illustration and Enlightenment visual culture more broadly, this fascinating book connects Bartram’s innovative drawing practice to the development of his unique and startlingly modern perspective on the natural world. -- Christopher Iannini, Rutgers University Athens’s book traces the importance of the act of illustration in Bartram’s work—the focus that drawing requires to accurately render all the aspects of a plant or animal on paper. * Pennsylvania History *