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LEONARD JENYNS, described by Jerom Murch as Darwin's lifelong friend, was
an eminent Victorian scientist with many talents including Botany,
Zoology and Meteorology. He became a distinguished naturalist
and was a major figure and innovative thinker ahead of his time.
He is a worthy subject for our second book. The new volume includes
the following material, much of it rarely seen or published, and
some of it uniquely reproduced for the first time from the Institution's
collections.
Jenyns's own auto-biography, "Chapters in my Life",
which was printed privately in Bath in 1889 in an edition of 500
copies.
A representative selection of his writings and his correspondence
with the leading naturalists of his day, including Charles Darwin;
Sir J.D. Hooker, Director of Kew Gardens; J.S. Henslow, Professor
of Botany, Cambridge University etc.
Revealing views on his collaboration with P.J. Selby, author of
"Illustrations of British Ornithology" and William Yarrell,
author of works on "British Birds" and "British
Fishes".
A fascinating collection of letters he received from friends and
scientists of the day, chosen from among the 700 in our collections.
There are more than 30 illustrations from his main fields of interest,
and many of his friends and fellow scientists.
In addition, there are contributions from three acknowledged
experts that place the work of Leonard Jenyns in its historical
context:
A foreword by Roger G. Jenyns of Bottisham Hall, the great-great-great
nephew of Leonard Jenyns.
Professor Jack Meadows, author of "The Victorian Scientist",
assesses Jenyns's place in the development of science in the 19th
century.
Roger Vaughan, a former Keeper of the Collections at the BRLSI,
contributes a critical overview of Jenyns's life, achievements
and links with the Institution.
The book will be a quality, hardback Limited Edition, under the
BRLSI imprint, of c. 380 pages, size 24cm X 17cm, with more than
30 illustrations. It will be printed on 100gsm white paper, cased
in cloth-covered boards, with gold blocking on spine and front,
with woven head bands, plus ribbon marker
BOOK CONTENTS
Early years Jenyns's earliest memories were of the funeral of
Lord Nelson in 1806. His Uncle Chappelow gave him a copy of Nicholson's
Encyclopaedia when he was 10, which he later said was "the
foundation stone of his whole library". Two years later,
aged 12, he wrote a letter announcing his decision to become a
naturalist. His father was a Canon of Ely Cathedral and his mother
was daughter of the celebrated Dr. Heberden, Physician to the
Royal Family, whose connections proved valuable to Jenyns later
on. He was sent to school at Eton in 1813, where his first leanings
to natural history were strengthened, and where he recalled writing
66 hexameters of verse on the occasion of the first British Arctic
voyage in 1818. He identified "an early fondness for order,
method and precision", which accurately describes his notebooks
& neat hand in items he left us. After Jenyns graduated from
Cambridge in 1822, he was ordained priest in Christ's College
by the Master in 1824, and was appointed Curate and later Vicar
at Swaffham Bulbeck, a parish of 700 people adjoining his father's
estate at Bottisham. He collected insects when quite young and
also formed a collection of birds' eggs and British freshwater
shells.
Learned Societies and publications He was a member of a number
of learned societies: Cambridge Philosophical Society (1822),
Zoological Society (1826), British Association for the Advancement
of Science (1832), Linnean Society (1832), Entomological Society
(1834), Geological Society of London (1835), Ray Society (1844).
| Vol. I of Linnaeus Systema Naturae (1767) One of Jenyns's
most important reference books, highly annotated and full
of hand written notes- a volume he inherited from his great
uncle Chappelow, also a Reverend-Naturalist. |
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He thought that his two most important works were "Manual
of British Vertebrate Animals" (1836) and his editing of
the "Fishes of the Voyage of the Beagle" (1840). In
his memoirs he describes how he was offered the post of naturalist
on board the Beagle's famous round the world voyage but, after
some thought, felt that his duty lay with his parish. Charles
Darwin took his place and it was during this voyage that Darwin's
observations and thoughts on all he had seen during the voyage
led on to his famous works which revolutionised the whole science
of Biology, as then conceived. Among Jenyns's collections in the
Institution are four volumes of letters that he received from
Darwin and other naturalists.
He wrote many other papers and books including "Observations
in Natural History", "Calendar of Periodic Phenomena
in Natural History", and "Observations on Meteorology"
and he was proud to be asked to edit a new edition of Gilbert
White's "Selborne" in 1843, White being one of his heroes.
He married first in 1844 and, owing to his wife's poor health,
moved to Bath in 1850, where he lived in South Stoke and Swainswick.
When his wife died in 1860, he moved to Darlington Place and then
Belmont, marrying again in 1862.
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Jenyns in his "Manual of British Vertebrate
Animals" says of the Rudd or Red-Eye: "12 to 14
inches, general appearance resembling that of the Roach, but
the body deeper and thicker; the back more arched, and forming
a slightly more salient angle at the commencement of the dorsal
fin;..." |
BROADENING HORIZONS
Jenyns was a founder in 1855 of the Bath Natural History and Antiquarian
Field Club, whose proceedings abound with his papers. He donated
his library of more than 2,000 books to the BRLSI, plus his Herbarium,
his detailed Scrap books and over 700 letters. An interest in
meteorological matters had begun early when he noticed Gilbert
White's comments about the link between animal behaviour and weather.
From this he developed his own ideas and, much later, he read
a paper on the subject to their physical section when the British
Association held their annual meeting in Bath in 1864. The paper
aroused considerable interest and he followed this by setting
up one of the first Meteorological Observatories in the Institution
Gardens in 1865, which he monitored regularly, analysing and summarising
the readings at 10 year intervals in 1875 & 1885.
A thinking gentleman Surprisingly with his chosen subjects, Jenyns
felt he could not draw (unlike the rest of his family) and he
always preferred not to attempt to study two subjects at once.
In his early years, he expressed a disdain for four things that
might so easily have been part of the lot of a rural vicar: "Sporting,
Farming, Politics and Magisterial Business" and his focus
and studying instincts were confirmed by one of his servants who
noted "My master, you know, is such a thinking gentleman".
Towards the close of his career he was held in honour as the patriarch
of natural history studies in Great Britain. This volume pays
tribute to our "thinking gentleman" and honours his
endeavours in both national scientific studies and as one of our
most distinguished members.
TO ORDER
If you would like to subscribe to this Limited Edition book: Leonard
Jenyns - Darwin's lifelong friend, the cost is £18 per copy.
Post and packing is extra. Orders received by 31 May 2005 enable
you to have your name printed in the book.
Order form online
POSTSCRIPT
Our first Limited Edition book in 2003, Memoirs of William Smith-
author of the "Map of the Strata of England and Wales"
reprinted a biography published in 1844, plus expert contemporary
comment by Professor Hugh Torrens. This edition was closed at
600 copies, which were all sold. However, in view of the demand,
we produced a small run-on of the text which was bound later in
a simpler but still attractive form in hardback. We still have
a few copies of this left, price £18, click
here for more details
Much more
on this site about: Darwin & Jenyns
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