Post by Adam Cotton on Jun 7, 2021 4:32:00 GMT -8
I have been asked to publicise a new biography of A S Meek by the excellent Lepidopterist and author John Tennent. Here is the information I have received:
The man who shot butterflies – Albert Stewart Meek – was one of the last great collectors of natural history specimens, literally thousands of which were new to science. Sponsored by Walter Rothschild and curators at Rothschild’s private museum at Tring, Meek was one of the most successful southwest Pacific explorers and adventurers of his time: a period of history when many missionaries, traders and gold miners died from fever or were killed and eaten by cannibals. A highly focused but modest man, Meek suffered unimaginable physical hardships in reaching parts of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands where no-one had been before. More than 100 of the undescribed species he collected now bear his name. He was one of natural history’s most successful explorers, discovering the world’s largest butterfly and many other birdwing butterflies as well as numerous birds and other creatures. Whilst others talked about their plans to travel to obscure and remote places, Meek actually did it … and then went the extra mile.
Little was generally known about Meek’s adventures or his private life. Until now. With a particular interest in the history of discovery, John Tennent describes events Meek experienced in both their historical context and from personal experience. Over two decades of his own research, Tennent stayed some three years in the forests of New Guinea and the Solomons in places Meek had visited a century before. This definitive and unique biography of Meek has a substantial autobiographical element. It draws freely on 500 pages of Meek’s letters written to Tring curators, archived in the Natural History Museum in London, as well as Meek’s personal photograph album now in the care of Sir David Attenborough.
In summary, this outstanding book covers the physical, intellectual and private life of a truly remarkable man, whose courage, endurance, organisational abilities and foibles combined to leave a unique and lasting legacy in the museums of the world. More than the numerous and diverse specimens – but inevitably because of them and the work Tring curators did with them – Meek helped to bequeath an understanding of the natural world that approaches the contribution of the founding fathers of biogeography. But this isn’t a dusty story about the past: it is an inspiration to all of us who are interested in adventure and what it is possible to achieve. To never give up. At last Albert Stewart Meek has a fitting monument in this book.
The Man who Shot Butterflies is published in a limited print-run of only 500 copies – 603 pages with numerous colour pictures illustrating many of the butterflies, birds, beetles, shells, reptiles and other animals he collected. It chronicles Meek’s pioneering life and adventures, incorporating a substantial volume of previously unpublished information relating to subjects including his discovery of the remarkable (now extinct) Choiseul Pigeon, Microgoura meeki; and the acknowledged largest butterfly in the world, Ornithoptera alexandrae. Many of Meek’s discoveries are illustrated in colour.
Here is the cover:
And this is the text of the cover flaps
Front:
MANY LATE 19TH CENTURY MISSIONARIES, TRADERS AND WOULD-BE ADVENTURERS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC FELL BY THE WAYSIDE THROUGH FEVER AND THE ACTIVITIES OF WARLIKE NATIVE HEADHUNTERS ON THE REMOTE ISLANDS OF NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMON ISLANDS. FEW SURVIVED, BUT ALBERT STEWART MEEK, SECOND SON OF AN ENGLISH NATURALIST FATHER, WAS AN EXCEPTION. HE NOT ONLY SURVIVED – SOMETIMES BY THE SKIN OF HIS TEETH – HE COLLECTED MANY THOUSANDS OF SPECIES OF INSECTS, BIRDS AND OTHER CREATURES COMPLETELY NEW TO SCIENCE (MORE THAN 100 NOW BEAR HIS NAME) IN SOME OF THE MOST REMOTE AND DANGEROUS TERRITORIES ON EARTH.
MEEK WAS 17 YEARS OLD IN 1889 WHEN HE LEFT ENGLAND FOR AUSTRALIA. THROUGH FAMILY CONTACTS, HE STAYED WITH A FAMILY OF CELEBRATED NATURALISTS ON THEIR CATTLE STATION AT COOMOOBOOLAROO IN THE QUEENSLAND OUTBACK. HERE, EXPERIENCE EARNED AS A JACKAROO (APPRENTICE STOCKMAN) WAS CRITICALLY VALUABLE TO HIS FUTURE LIFE AS A NATURALIST, ADVENTURER AND EXPLORER. HIS CAREER BEGAN WITH EXPEDITIONS TO NORTHERN QUEENSLAND AND SOON MOVED ON TO THE REMOTE ISLANDS OF NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMONS WHERE HEADHUNTING AND CANNIBALISM WERE RIFE. HE IS BEST REMEMBERED BY ORNITHOLOGISTS FOR DISCOVERING, ON CHOISEUL ISLAND IN THE SOLOMONS, A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF A GROUND-DWELLING PIGEON, MICROGOURA MEEKI, NEVER SEEN AGAIN (BACK OF DUST JACKET). ENTOMOLOGISTS REMEMBER MEEK FOR SHOOTING WITH DUST SHOT CARTRIDGES THE FIRST FEMALE OF QUEEN ALEXANDRA’S BIRDWING, ORNITHOPTERA ALEXANDRAE, THE LARGEST BUTTERFLY IN THE WORLD. THE SHOT HOLES ARE THERE TO BE SEEN IN THE SPECIMEN. LATER, HAVING DISCOVERED ANOTHER REMARKABLE NEW SPECIES OF BIRDWING BUTTERFLY IN THE MOUNTAINS OF NEW GUINEA, HE DISCOVERED THAT THE BRILLIANTLY-COLOURED MALES FED OUT OF REACH ON TREE BLOSSOMS, WHERE NATIVES SHOT THEM WITH PRONGED ARROWS (FRONT OF DUST JACKET).
MEEK SENT MOST OF THE SPECIMENS HE COLLECTED TO WALTER ROTHSCHILD’S PRIVATE ZOOLOGICAL MUSEUM AT TRING PARK IN HERTFORDSHIRE, WHO TOOK WHAT THEY WANTED AND SENT THE REST TO MEEK’S LONDON AGENTS OLIVER JANSON AND EDWARD GERRARD. MEEK RECORDED HIS ADVENTURES IN LETTERS TO ROTHSCHILD, JANSON AND TO TRING’S CURATORS. THE LETTERS HAVE LAIN LARGELY UNSEEN SINCE THEY BECAME PART OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM ARCHIVE IN LOND0N ON THE DEATH OF WALTER ROTHSCHILD IN 1937. A BOOK ON MEEK’S EXPLOITS, A NATURALIST IN CANNIBAL LAND, WAS PUBLISHED IN 1913, ALTHOUGH MEEK HIMSELF HAD LITTLE INPUT TO THE BOOK AND AS HIS OWN HANDWRITTEN CORRESPONDENCE ILLUSTRATES, MUCH OF ITS CONTENT IS WILDLY INACCURATE. THE MAN WHO SHOT BUTTERFLIES IS NOT A CONVENTIONAL BIOGRAPHY. MEEK WAS NOT A NATURAL STORYTELLER, NOR DID HE EXPECT THAT HIS LETTERS WOULD REACH A WIDER AUDIENCE THAN THE INTENDED RECIPIENTS. BUT BEING BASED ON MEEK’S LETTERS, IT IS ALMOST AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL.
TRAVELLER AND AUTHOR JOHN TENNENT HAS AN INTEREST IN THE HISTORY OF NATURAL HISTORY AND HAS TRAVELLED VERY WIDELY IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC. THE MAN WHO SHOT BUTTERFLIES IS BASED ON BROAD AND EXTENSIVE RESEARCH AND MEEK’S LETTERS HOME, INTERWOVEN OCCASIONALLY WITH THE AUTHOR’S OWN EXPERIENCES IN SOME OF THE SAME PLACES MEEK VISITED MORE THAN A CENTURY EARLIER.
Back:
JOHN TENNENT GREW UP IN NORTH YORKSHIRE WHERE HE DEVELOPED KEEN INTEREST IN NATURAL HISTORY AS A YOUNG BOY ROAMING THE HILLS AND CLIFFS AROUND ROBIN HOOD’S BAY AND BEING TAKEN ON ENFORCED WEEKEND ROUTE MARCHES BY HIS MOTHER. FOLLOWING 23 YEARS IN THE BRITISH ARMY, MOSTLY OVERSEAS, HE RESIGNED IN 1991 TO PURSUE RESEARCH INTO INSECTS AND THE HISTORY OF NATURAL HISTORY IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD, USUALLY ON THE PATH LEAST TRAVELLED. HE IS THE AUTHOR OF MORE THAN 275 SCIENTIFIC PAPERS AND REVIEWS AND FIVE BOOKS ON BUTTERFLIES, DESCRIBING 180 NEW TAXA, MANY DISCOVERED BY HIMSELF. A BUTTERFLY GENUS, A SILK-MOTH, A STALK-EYED FLY AND THREE BUTTERFLIES BEAR HIS NAME. WITH A LONG-STANDING LOVE OF POETRY, HE ALSO EDITED AN ANTHOLOGY OF INSECTS IN VERSE IN 2015.
HE WAS AWARDED THE BRITISH EMPIRE MEDAL IN THE NEW YEAR’S HONOURS LIST IN 1981 AND MADE A MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF LOGOHU IN THE PAPUA NEW GUINEA NEW YEAR’S HONOURS LIST IN 2015 (LOGOHU IS A SOUTHERN PAPUA NEW GUINEA WORD FOR THE BIRD-OF-PARADISE, THE OFFICIAL NATIONAL SYMBOL OF THE COUNTRY SINCE INDEPENDENCE). HE WAS ELECTED A FELLOW OF THE ROYAL ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY IN 1982, FELLOW OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY IN 1995, MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF BIOLOGY IN 1998, AND FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY IN 2015; HE GAINED A MSC IN BIODIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN 1998 AND WAS INVITED TO BECOME A SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF LIFE SCIENCES AT THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM IN LONDON THE SAME YEAR. AWARDED THE LINNEAN SOCIETY H H BLOOMER MEDAL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE IN 2007, HE BECAME AN HONORARY ASSOCIATE AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY MUSEUM IN 2017.
SINCE RETIREMENT, HE HAS TRAVELLED TO MANY PARTS OF THE GLOBE, FROM ARCTIC RUSSIA AND MONGOLIA TO THE URAL MOUNTAINS; FROM CHINA AND JAPAN TO ARCTIC CANADA; NORTH, SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA; FROM NORTH AFRICA AND THE ISLANDS OF MACARONESIA TO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. HE HAS STAYED ON PACIFIC ISLANDS FROM WALLIS AND FUTUNA TO THE MARQUESAS, EASTER ISLAND AND HAWAII AND IN THE LAST DECADE HAS BEEN TO MORE THAN 300 OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS, VANUATU, AND THE OUTLYING ISLANDS OF MILNE BAY EAST OF THE NEW GUINEA MAINLAND. HE EMBARKED ON THIS BIOGRAPHY WHEN IT REGISTERED THAT ALTHOUGH MANY NATURALIST COLLEAGUES KNOW MEEK’S NAME, ALMOST NOTHING WAS GENERALLY KNOWN ABOUT MEEK PERSONALLY, OR HIS LIFE AND EXPLOITS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AND AUSTRALIA.
The man who shot butterflies – Albert Stewart Meek – was one of the last great collectors of natural history specimens, literally thousands of which were new to science. Sponsored by Walter Rothschild and curators at Rothschild’s private museum at Tring, Meek was one of the most successful southwest Pacific explorers and adventurers of his time: a period of history when many missionaries, traders and gold miners died from fever or were killed and eaten by cannibals. A highly focused but modest man, Meek suffered unimaginable physical hardships in reaching parts of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands where no-one had been before. More than 100 of the undescribed species he collected now bear his name. He was one of natural history’s most successful explorers, discovering the world’s largest butterfly and many other birdwing butterflies as well as numerous birds and other creatures. Whilst others talked about their plans to travel to obscure and remote places, Meek actually did it … and then went the extra mile.
Little was generally known about Meek’s adventures or his private life. Until now. With a particular interest in the history of discovery, John Tennent describes events Meek experienced in both their historical context and from personal experience. Over two decades of his own research, Tennent stayed some three years in the forests of New Guinea and the Solomons in places Meek had visited a century before. This definitive and unique biography of Meek has a substantial autobiographical element. It draws freely on 500 pages of Meek’s letters written to Tring curators, archived in the Natural History Museum in London, as well as Meek’s personal photograph album now in the care of Sir David Attenborough.
In summary, this outstanding book covers the physical, intellectual and private life of a truly remarkable man, whose courage, endurance, organisational abilities and foibles combined to leave a unique and lasting legacy in the museums of the world. More than the numerous and diverse specimens – but inevitably because of them and the work Tring curators did with them – Meek helped to bequeath an understanding of the natural world that approaches the contribution of the founding fathers of biogeography. But this isn’t a dusty story about the past: it is an inspiration to all of us who are interested in adventure and what it is possible to achieve. To never give up. At last Albert Stewart Meek has a fitting monument in this book.
The Man who Shot Butterflies is published in a limited print-run of only 500 copies – 603 pages with numerous colour pictures illustrating many of the butterflies, birds, beetles, shells, reptiles and other animals he collected. It chronicles Meek’s pioneering life and adventures, incorporating a substantial volume of previously unpublished information relating to subjects including his discovery of the remarkable (now extinct) Choiseul Pigeon, Microgoura meeki; and the acknowledged largest butterfly in the world, Ornithoptera alexandrae. Many of Meek’s discoveries are illustrated in colour.
Here is the cover:
And this is the text of the cover flaps
Front:
MANY LATE 19TH CENTURY MISSIONARIES, TRADERS AND WOULD-BE ADVENTURERS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC FELL BY THE WAYSIDE THROUGH FEVER AND THE ACTIVITIES OF WARLIKE NATIVE HEADHUNTERS ON THE REMOTE ISLANDS OF NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMON ISLANDS. FEW SURVIVED, BUT ALBERT STEWART MEEK, SECOND SON OF AN ENGLISH NATURALIST FATHER, WAS AN EXCEPTION. HE NOT ONLY SURVIVED – SOMETIMES BY THE SKIN OF HIS TEETH – HE COLLECTED MANY THOUSANDS OF SPECIES OF INSECTS, BIRDS AND OTHER CREATURES COMPLETELY NEW TO SCIENCE (MORE THAN 100 NOW BEAR HIS NAME) IN SOME OF THE MOST REMOTE AND DANGEROUS TERRITORIES ON EARTH.
MEEK WAS 17 YEARS OLD IN 1889 WHEN HE LEFT ENGLAND FOR AUSTRALIA. THROUGH FAMILY CONTACTS, HE STAYED WITH A FAMILY OF CELEBRATED NATURALISTS ON THEIR CATTLE STATION AT COOMOOBOOLAROO IN THE QUEENSLAND OUTBACK. HERE, EXPERIENCE EARNED AS A JACKAROO (APPRENTICE STOCKMAN) WAS CRITICALLY VALUABLE TO HIS FUTURE LIFE AS A NATURALIST, ADVENTURER AND EXPLORER. HIS CAREER BEGAN WITH EXPEDITIONS TO NORTHERN QUEENSLAND AND SOON MOVED ON TO THE REMOTE ISLANDS OF NEW GUINEA AND THE SOLOMONS WHERE HEADHUNTING AND CANNIBALISM WERE RIFE. HE IS BEST REMEMBERED BY ORNITHOLOGISTS FOR DISCOVERING, ON CHOISEUL ISLAND IN THE SOLOMONS, A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF A GROUND-DWELLING PIGEON, MICROGOURA MEEKI, NEVER SEEN AGAIN (BACK OF DUST JACKET). ENTOMOLOGISTS REMEMBER MEEK FOR SHOOTING WITH DUST SHOT CARTRIDGES THE FIRST FEMALE OF QUEEN ALEXANDRA’S BIRDWING, ORNITHOPTERA ALEXANDRAE, THE LARGEST BUTTERFLY IN THE WORLD. THE SHOT HOLES ARE THERE TO BE SEEN IN THE SPECIMEN. LATER, HAVING DISCOVERED ANOTHER REMARKABLE NEW SPECIES OF BIRDWING BUTTERFLY IN THE MOUNTAINS OF NEW GUINEA, HE DISCOVERED THAT THE BRILLIANTLY-COLOURED MALES FED OUT OF REACH ON TREE BLOSSOMS, WHERE NATIVES SHOT THEM WITH PRONGED ARROWS (FRONT OF DUST JACKET).
MEEK SENT MOST OF THE SPECIMENS HE COLLECTED TO WALTER ROTHSCHILD’S PRIVATE ZOOLOGICAL MUSEUM AT TRING PARK IN HERTFORDSHIRE, WHO TOOK WHAT THEY WANTED AND SENT THE REST TO MEEK’S LONDON AGENTS OLIVER JANSON AND EDWARD GERRARD. MEEK RECORDED HIS ADVENTURES IN LETTERS TO ROTHSCHILD, JANSON AND TO TRING’S CURATORS. THE LETTERS HAVE LAIN LARGELY UNSEEN SINCE THEY BECAME PART OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM ARCHIVE IN LOND0N ON THE DEATH OF WALTER ROTHSCHILD IN 1937. A BOOK ON MEEK’S EXPLOITS, A NATURALIST IN CANNIBAL LAND, WAS PUBLISHED IN 1913, ALTHOUGH MEEK HIMSELF HAD LITTLE INPUT TO THE BOOK AND AS HIS OWN HANDWRITTEN CORRESPONDENCE ILLUSTRATES, MUCH OF ITS CONTENT IS WILDLY INACCURATE. THE MAN WHO SHOT BUTTERFLIES IS NOT A CONVENTIONAL BIOGRAPHY. MEEK WAS NOT A NATURAL STORYTELLER, NOR DID HE EXPECT THAT HIS LETTERS WOULD REACH A WIDER AUDIENCE THAN THE INTENDED RECIPIENTS. BUT BEING BASED ON MEEK’S LETTERS, IT IS ALMOST AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL.
TRAVELLER AND AUTHOR JOHN TENNENT HAS AN INTEREST IN THE HISTORY OF NATURAL HISTORY AND HAS TRAVELLED VERY WIDELY IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC. THE MAN WHO SHOT BUTTERFLIES IS BASED ON BROAD AND EXTENSIVE RESEARCH AND MEEK’S LETTERS HOME, INTERWOVEN OCCASIONALLY WITH THE AUTHOR’S OWN EXPERIENCES IN SOME OF THE SAME PLACES MEEK VISITED MORE THAN A CENTURY EARLIER.
Back:
JOHN TENNENT GREW UP IN NORTH YORKSHIRE WHERE HE DEVELOPED KEEN INTEREST IN NATURAL HISTORY AS A YOUNG BOY ROAMING THE HILLS AND CLIFFS AROUND ROBIN HOOD’S BAY AND BEING TAKEN ON ENFORCED WEEKEND ROUTE MARCHES BY HIS MOTHER. FOLLOWING 23 YEARS IN THE BRITISH ARMY, MOSTLY OVERSEAS, HE RESIGNED IN 1991 TO PURSUE RESEARCH INTO INSECTS AND THE HISTORY OF NATURAL HISTORY IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD, USUALLY ON THE PATH LEAST TRAVELLED. HE IS THE AUTHOR OF MORE THAN 275 SCIENTIFIC PAPERS AND REVIEWS AND FIVE BOOKS ON BUTTERFLIES, DESCRIBING 180 NEW TAXA, MANY DISCOVERED BY HIMSELF. A BUTTERFLY GENUS, A SILK-MOTH, A STALK-EYED FLY AND THREE BUTTERFLIES BEAR HIS NAME. WITH A LONG-STANDING LOVE OF POETRY, HE ALSO EDITED AN ANTHOLOGY OF INSECTS IN VERSE IN 2015.
HE WAS AWARDED THE BRITISH EMPIRE MEDAL IN THE NEW YEAR’S HONOURS LIST IN 1981 AND MADE A MEMBER OF THE ORDER OF LOGOHU IN THE PAPUA NEW GUINEA NEW YEAR’S HONOURS LIST IN 2015 (LOGOHU IS A SOUTHERN PAPUA NEW GUINEA WORD FOR THE BIRD-OF-PARADISE, THE OFFICIAL NATIONAL SYMBOL OF THE COUNTRY SINCE INDEPENDENCE). HE WAS ELECTED A FELLOW OF THE ROYAL ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY IN 1982, FELLOW OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY IN 1995, MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF BIOLOGY IN 1998, AND FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF BIOLOGY IN 2015; HE GAINED A MSC IN BIODIVERSITY MANAGEMENT IN 1998 AND WAS INVITED TO BECOME A SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF LIFE SCIENCES AT THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM IN LONDON THE SAME YEAR. AWARDED THE LINNEAN SOCIETY H H BLOOMER MEDAL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO SCIENCE IN 2007, HE BECAME AN HONORARY ASSOCIATE AT THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY MUSEUM IN 2017.
SINCE RETIREMENT, HE HAS TRAVELLED TO MANY PARTS OF THE GLOBE, FROM ARCTIC RUSSIA AND MONGOLIA TO THE URAL MOUNTAINS; FROM CHINA AND JAPAN TO ARCTIC CANADA; NORTH, SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA; FROM NORTH AFRICA AND THE ISLANDS OF MACARONESIA TO AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. HE HAS STAYED ON PACIFIC ISLANDS FROM WALLIS AND FUTUNA TO THE MARQUESAS, EASTER ISLAND AND HAWAII AND IN THE LAST DECADE HAS BEEN TO MORE THAN 300 OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS, VANUATU, AND THE OUTLYING ISLANDS OF MILNE BAY EAST OF THE NEW GUINEA MAINLAND. HE EMBARKED ON THIS BIOGRAPHY WHEN IT REGISTERED THAT ALTHOUGH MANY NATURALIST COLLEAGUES KNOW MEEK’S NAME, ALMOST NOTHING WAS GENERALLY KNOWN ABOUT MEEK PERSONALLY, OR HIS LIFE AND EXPLOITS IN THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AND AUSTRALIA.
