Chelsea Montague
Dr. Coranado
English 327
Archive Project
Looking at History Through a Different Lens
The first ever zoological book intended for children was
called A Description of Three Hundred
Animals edited by Thomas Boreman in 1730. Although, Harriet Ritvo mentioned
that if it wasn’t for Boreman stating that this book was intended for children,
and the small size of the book, no one would have known the juvenile audience
due to the extreme similarity to adult books from that time. In the beginning
of the book it is stated that Boreman, “extracted from the best sources,” (Preface)
to create this book; he used material from Edward Topsells book, Histories of the Four-footed Beats, and A Short and Easie Method to give Children
an Idea or True Notion of Celestial and Terrestial Beings (A2). This book
is looked at as a pivotal moment in early literature. After this book was published
at least 50 other children’s books about vegetables, animals, and minerals
followed, including a book completely written by Thomas Boreman, called A Description of Some Curious and Uncommon
Creatures. This book is divided into
5 different categories, including, beasts, birds, fish, serpents, and insects. On
every page of the book there are 1 to 5 animals along with an image of that
animal and a paragraph description. By analyzing the language used in the
descriptions to describe the animals, and by looking at the details in the
images, we are able to make connections and assumptions to the religious beliefs,
myths, lifestyles, and moral truths and lessons that were believed and lived
from the people of the 1700’s. The ‘Beasts’ and ‘Serpents’ categories in this
book offer the most historical information and I believe they would be a great
addition to today’s anthologies.
There were many reasons as to why authors deemed it
necessary to create books like these, and they include, increasing children’s
study habits, for children to be able to have a scientific understanding of the
animal kingdom, for children to understand the order of creation, to treat
animals with kindness, and also to “enhance a child’s religious feeling” (Ritzo
77). This meant that by the child reading and looking through this book, they
would be able to strengthen their feelings towards God and their religion. Arabella
Buckley stated that the way to do this was to, “awaken in young minds a sense
of the wonderful interweaving of life on upon the earth, and a desire to trace
out the ever continuous action of the great Creator in the development of
living beings” (22). Buckley is stating that by reading this book children see
that without God we would not be blessed by all of these wonderful animals, and
they learn to appreciate and attribute everything to God, as intended. A Description of Three Hundred Animals
also included moral lessons that were weaved into the text and the pictures
themselves; one of these lessons, stated by Ritvo, included, “understanding how
useful animals were” (80). This was said to “impress the mind of a child reader
with the improving emotions of gratitude, admiration, and love” (Ritvo 80). As
stated previously, the object of this book was to not only educate children on
the importance of animals, and how without God the world would not function
properly, but also to enhance the children’s awareness on how much animals help
the society grow and without them we as people would not be able to survive as
easily. This is important for the reader to note and realize because during
this time period, animals were extremely useful whether it was for trading
purposes, producing food, or by making their lives easier on a daily basis.
The term ‘beast’ was a word that was used in the
eighteenth century as a synonym for mammals. The beasts play the biggest role
in this book because “their greater similarity to man rendered them both more
interesting than and intrinsically superior to other animals” (Jones ix). They
were superior to the other animals because they often had human like faces and
features, so to the reader they were deemed more important and held more value
than the regular animals, which is very interesting because for most of these
animals, there was no real evidence that they existed. This clue gives the
reader an insight of the beliefs that were lived by during the 1700’s, even by
famous writers, and this information was made sure to be included into a book
that was made specifically for children’s knowledge. An author from the online British Library
added that, “In most bestiaries these animals are described in relation to
moral truths: the creatures themselves were not as important as the lessons
revealed in their description.” This is one of the reasons why I believe this
book would make an excellent addition to literature today because as stated
above, the reader can learn so much from taking the description, dissecting it,
and try to find out what lesson Boreman was trying to relay to the audience of
this book. Another statement that the author of this article from the British
Library made was that, “The bestiary also aimed to remind the reader of the
link between God and the natural world, and of the superiority of humans to
beasts.” The link to God is so crucial to note because in the 1700’s, God was believed
by most as the one who made the world go round, so by Boreman adding all of
these beasts to this book, he is showing the children reading this book just
how important God is, and the people that don’t worship the same God are
inferior, such as the Indians. For example, in the description of the ‘manticora’
Boreman states “a Devourer, is bred among the Indians; having a triple row of
teeth beneath and above . . .” (19). By analyzing this part of the description
we can see that the author is saying that this beast is seen as a creature that
is very unpredictable, with extra teeth, and described as a devourer, the
author also says that this beast is “bred among the Indians” (19). Further down
in the description Boreman states that “He is fo wild, that ‘tis very difficult
to tame him . . .” (19) Implying that these creatures resembled the people that
bred them, the Indians. Here we see the feelings that were felt by the people
towards the Indians at that time, “difficult to tame . . .” (19) These comparisons
are so important to note because during this time period, the people viewed
Indians as monsters, and very barbaric themselves, so of course it would make
sense for the author to add that this beast was “bred among the Indians,” and
that they were “difficult to tame” (Ritvo). The image of the ‘manticora’ itself
holds a lot of information as well. The
drawing includes a man’s face on a lion’s body with lion legs, and has a long
skinny tail with a spike ball on the end; definitely not an animal that would
be comforting to run into at night. The author does this on purpose to make the
connection for the children who will read this book. The children see that this
beast was “bred among the Indians” so it would make sense to them for the
creature to look something close to a scary monster that will attack you at any
given time, because based on the time period that was a myth that was told to
children by their parents and society. This example from the book would be
helpful to be included in today’s anthologies because the reader gets to see
how the authors from the 1700’s used creative ways to show their feelings for
people that they looked at as inferior, and the reader can also see the
importance that the author felt to make those feelings known to the children
that would be reading this book at that time.
The authors during this time period, such as Boreman, used their writing and their illustrations as
a way to send a message to their reader without being completely outright about
it, because they knew it was offensive. For example if we look at the
description of the ‘Lamia’ Boreman states that “the creature mentioned in the
34th chapter of Ifiah,
called in the Hebrew Lilth; as also the fame that is mentioned in the 4th
of the Lamentations” (22). The ‘lamia’ is being referred to as part of the
Jewish culture. This creature has a face of a woman, and they “fometimes devour
their own young” this statement is part of the description of the Lamia. This
may have been included to look at the negative feelings that were felt towards
that religion at that time. Relating the Jewish culture, and the assumption
that they may “devour their own young” (Boreman 22). The writers may use this
strategy as a way to make their religion seem superior to others. The image of
the Lamia also has a human like face and the body of a goat, and legs of a
bear. In the description Boreman states “It has no Voice but that of hiffling
like a serpent” (22). Having “no voice” can be a symbol for how Boreman shows
the reader that he believes that the Jewish aren’t important enough to have a
say. This information would be interesting to readers today to see that the
negative feelings were not only directed at the Indians, but also people of the
Jewish religion as well.
Along with the religious beliefs that are depicted in
this book, there also are moral truths that we can pull out of the descriptions
and images as well. For example, under the ‘serpents’ category, the dragon is
described as “The dragon as defcrib’d in numerous fables and stories of feveral
writers may be juftly questioned whether he exists” (Boreman 192). The
information that we can gather from this description is that the writers of the
1700’s included animals such as the dragon in their books, without having any
concrete evidence that they even existed. We can conclude that story telling
was a huge part of the society that existed back in the 1700’s and we see that
authors would include creatures in their books that were part of campfire
stories and fables, because that is how most of the information was relayed
during that time period. Including the Dragon in this book, helps the reader
better understand the lifestyles of these people, it says that they may have
been gullible, or that they held storytelling to such a high standard that they
believed everything that was mentioned in them.
Along with the Dragon bringing to light the moral truths from
the 1700’s, the Unicorn held a lot of significance as well. In the first line
of the description of the Unicorn, Boreman states “The UNICORN, a Beaft which,
tho’ doubted of by many writers . . .” (6) This is telling the reader right
away that this animal who was placed under the ‘Beasts’ category is severely
doubted by many writers and by many people at this time, but it must have been
included in some fables, so Boreman thought it adequate to add the Unicorn to
his book. The image of the Unicorn is one that is very similar to the image
that comes to mind nowadays when the Unicorn is referenced, a white horse body
with a long beautiful horn on the top of its head. The placement of this animal
is interesting to note as well; it is placed right under the Rhinoceros. We
know that the Rhino is an animal that exists today, and most of us have seen
one either at the zoo or in real life, in contrast, the Unicorn is an animal
that is thought of as a mythical creature and one that does not exist in real
life, or one that you can see at the zoo. Boreman put these two animals on the
same page to emphasize the equality of the two, even though one was doubted to
exist. By looking at this minor detail
we are able see a glimpse into the lifestyles and the moral truths that were
believed during these times. The Unicorn was also referenced in Annis Boudinot
Stocktons poem, The Vision, An Ode To
Washington; “I saw great Fabius come in state, I saw the British Lion’s
fate, The Unicorns Despair;” (835). I looked for research on the meaning of
Stockton adding the mythical creature into her writing and there was no
substantial reason as to why she did it, so we can assume that since this was
written in the late 1700’s, this may help support the claim that the Unicorn
was real. The Unicorn passage of this book as well as Stockton’s reference to
the mythical creature in her writing would be very interesting to include in
one of today’s anthologies because of the extreme difference in today’s reality
compared to the reality back in the 1700’s.
Just
by looking at a four examples from the book, including, the ‘Manticora’ the
‘Lamia’ the Dragon’ and the ‘Unicorn’ we can see why parts of A Description of Three Hundred Animals
should be part of the canon of American literature. There is so much history
that can be extracted from the descriptions and images of the animals portrayed
in the book. This book gives readers a new way to learn crucial history about
the people of the 1700’s, and that is by looking at pictures as well as text to
gather information. Almost all of the writings that we study together are
strictly text, and for readers who enjoy examining old images, this book is a
full of historical information that we as students can benefit from, including,
religious beliefs, myths, lifestyles, and moral truths and lessons that were
relevant during the seventeenth century.
Works
Cited
"A Description of
Three Hundred Animals." The British
Library. Web.
Boreman,
Thomas. Ed. “A Description of Three Hundred Animals.” London, 1786. Print.
Ritvo,
Harriet. “Learning from Animals: Natural History for Children in the Eighteenth
and Nineteenth Centuries.” Children’s
Literature 13 (1985). 72-90. Web.
Stockton,
Annis. “The Vision an Ode to Washington” Early American Writings.” New York:
Oxford UP, 2002. 835. Print.
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