Description: Voyages of Discovery records some of the most significant and remarkable discoveries in the history of natural science exploration, documenting major advances and watershed moments in the past three centuries. Each piece of artwork -- rare drawings and beautiful color illustrations, photographs and maps -- many of which have never been seen before, was handpicked from the vast archives of the Natural History Museum in London.

Entwined with all the images are the fascinating stories behind them, of brave and fearless explorers, naturalists, artists, photographers, cartographers -- or all these at once -- who were driven to understand the world around them and expand the limits of human knowledge. Dr. Anthony Rice, an internationally recognized and published expert in the field of natural sciences, takes readers on a ten-chapter tour around the world, chronologically from the 17th century to the present. Readers follow Sir Hans Sloane's explorations in Jamaica (1687-1689), where he discovered milk chocolate and documented hundreds of local plants and fruits; Captain James Cook's discovery of Australia in 1768; the landmark travels of Charles Darwin on board the HMS Beagle from 1831-36; and up to the first use of photography in documenting natural history discoveries in 1876. Each chapter begins with an erudite and entertaining summary of each explorer's contributions to the field of natural science, followed by a series of extensively captioned images created during their explorations. Covering the globe, the reader is left with an indelible impression of the past's extraordinary achievements and an inspiring vision of discoveries to come in the next millennium.

The Natural Museum ofHistory in London provides all the source material for Voyages of Discovery. With 68 million specimens, over half a million works of art on paper representing all the great natural history artists, and one million rare and richly illustrated books, the museum is an unrivaled resource for the world -- and Voyages of Discovery consolidates all this into one stunningly beautiful and desirable book.

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