Selborne Pioneer: Gilbert White as Naturalist and Scientist: A Re-Examination

The Selborne Pioneer reassesses the life and work of the eighteenth century naturalist Gilbert White, author of The Natural History of Selborne. It succeeds in presenting a new and more comprehensive picture of White both as observer and as rigorous behavioural investigator. By means of a detailed study of the naturalist's essays, correspondence and record books - the latter covering a period of some forty years - Ted Dadswell provides a convincing account of the pioneering and innovative White, within the field of eighteenth century 'natural knowledge', and rescues him at the same time from an undeserved reputation as a charming but naïve eccentric.