Natural Science and Wondrous Transformations: A Translation of Maria Sibylla Merian's 17th-Century Writing on Insects

FAIN: FB-57785-14

Kay Etheridge
Gettysburg College (Gettysburg, PA 17325-1483)

In 1679 Maria Sibylla Merian published a groundbreaking volume on the life cycles and habits of butterflies and moths titled Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung und sonderbare Blumen-Nahrung. The book I propose to develop will provide the first English translation of Merian's text and will include her beautiful and accurate illustrations of these insects, their stages of metamorphosis and their food plants. The proposed book will include in-depth commentary on the numerous innovative contributions Merian made to early modern natural history studies. Merian's motivations, her perception of herself as a naturalist, her influence on subsequent scholars, and her role in transforming our view of nature will also be discussed. Merian studied and painted insects over a period of five decades but has been underappreciated for her important contributions to science history. This project will bring her early writings, images and endless curiosity to the attention of a broader audience.

Associated Products

The Flowering of Ecology: Maria Sibylla Merian’s Caterpillar Book (Book)
Title: The Flowering of Ecology: Maria Sibylla Merian’s Caterpillar Book
Author: Kay Etheridge
Abstract: The Flowering of Ecology presents an English translation of Maria Sibylla Merian’s 1679 ‘caterpillar’ book, Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung und sonderbare Blumen–Nahrung. Her processes in making the book and an analysis of its scientific content are presented in a historical context. Merian raised insects for five decades, recording the food plants, behavior and ecology of roughly 300 species. Her most influential invention was an 'ecological' composition in which the metamorphic cycles of insects (usually moths and butterflies) were arrayed around plants that served as food for the caterpillars. Kay Etheridge analyzes the 1679 caterpillar book from the viewpoint of a biologist, arguing that Merian’s study of insect interactions with plants, the first of its kind, was a formative contribution to natural history.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://brill.com/view/title/26922
Primary URL Description: Brill website
Access Model: hardback and e-book
Publisher: Brill
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978-90-04-2847
Translator: Michael Ritterson
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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