The Library will be closed Tuesday, December 24-Friday, December 27 in observance of Christmas. We will open on Monday, December 30 at 10:00 AM.
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Open today 4 PM - 11 PM
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Open today 4 PM - 11 PM
Digital Exhibitions
Women's Work
Portraits of 12 Scientific Illustrators from the 17th to the 21st Century
Historical Illustrators
Anna Lister
Before the publication of the two-volume first edition in 1685, Historiae Conchyliorum was produced in several early versions. Dr. Martin Lister sent bound copperplate engravings by his daughters Anna and Susanna to his colleagues both for their editorial comments and as gifts to acknowledge assistance in his other ventures. By the time this edition was published, there were already several shorter, preliminary versions extant. Image source: Lister, Martin, et al. Historiae conchyliorum. Vol. 1, London: aere incisi, sumptibus authoris, 1685, title page.
Martin Lister was a medical doctor by profession and an innovator by nature. He was involved with a group that carried out dissections and experimented with intravenous injection, he published a proposal for the creation of geological maps, but he had, in his own words, “the greatest enthusiasm” for natural history and was a collector of insects, spiders, and shells. He devoted his life to the compilation of the first organized, systematic publication on shells, creating a work that represented a landmark in the way scientists thought about natural history. In its final edition, the work was illustrated with 1062 plates of shells, the work of Lister's two daughters Anna and Susanna.
Born on October 13, 1671, Anna Lister was the second child of Martin and Hannah Lister. Her sister Susanna was born the previous year. By the time they were ten and eleven, respectively, they were already demonstrating an interest in art. Dr. Lister attended to their early education, as was the norm, preparing them for what would eventually be their part in his work. He sent a gift of oil colors from France with a letter to his wife, “I did send home a box of colour in oil for Susan & Nancy to paint with. As for the pencils sent with them, and the colours in shells, which are for limning, I would have thee lock them carefully up, till I return, for they know not yet the use of them.”
As the sisters grew, they would have had the benefit of observing the talented William Lodge engraving their father’s early publications. Some illustrations that he had completed for previous Lister publications were used again in Historiae Conchyliorum and it is likely that he engraved some of the plates from the Listers’ drawings, but after Lodge’s death in 1689, the pair replaced him as their father’s illustrators and engravers for his grand work, as well as for the articles he and others published in the Philosophical Transactions. Most of the plates were unsigned, but the illustrations in Historiae Conchyliorum are obviously the work of more than one hand. The few that are signed show variations of A, a conjoined AL or SL, and S. Sculp. Anna Lister, despite her youth, appears to be the stronger, more adept artist.
Historiae Conchyliorum was Dr. Lister’s opus, but its production was a family affair. Anna and Susanna, taught by their father, drew and engraved the illustrations. The plates were printed on a press at home, probably by a brother. The sisters designed some plates solely used as decorative borders. The same border plates were used repeatedly throughout the book, using a technique where a printed page was run through the press a second time with the decorative plate positioned around the first impression, in order to receive its decorative border, sometimes to the detriment of the paper. Some critics complained that this distinctly feminine touch was unprofessional. Image source: Lister, Martin, et al. Historiae conchyliorum. Vol. 2, London: aere incisi, sumptibus authoris, 1685.
Historiae Conchyliorum was completed in parts over many years, with sections distributed to Dr. Lister’s peers long before he considered the work completed. The approved first edition was published in 1685. Anna and Susanna Lister would continue working for their father, correcting drawings and preparing more plates for subsequent printings and the eventual publication of the 2nd edition. Dr. Lister left the copperplates to Oxford University as part of a bequest. This safe-keeping allowed them to be used once again for the 1770 edition.
Although the influence of the Listers’ work has endured for over four centuries, Anna Lister’s identity was nearly lost. Recent interpreters determined that a young woman could not be so talented and the illustrations were attributed to Dr. Lister’s wife Hannah. Another reason for the confusion, was that in the past, names and their spellings were more fluid. Anna, Anne, Ann, and Nancy are all derivative of the name Hannah, and in the 17th century, were used interchangeably. The discrepancy can be settled in Dr. Lister’s own words when he proudly referenced the plates as “the original drawings of my daughters.”
- NVG
In Historiae Conchyliorum, Anna and Susanna created illustrations representing a number of fossilized shells. This plate shows the first fossil from North America to be illustrated in a scientific publication. At this time there was debate over the origin of fossils, with Dr. Lister siding against the possibility of animal origins. Image source: Lister, Martin, et al. Historiae conchyliorum. Vol. 1, London: aere incisi, sumptibus authoris, 1685, pl. 167.
“The Anatomy of a Scallop” is one of many contributions by Martin Lister to the Philosophical Transactions. The accompanying plate is attributed to Susanna Lister. Image source: Lister, Martin. “The Anatomy of the Scallop.” Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol. 19, no. 229, 1697, pp. 567-570.
Illustrations of the microscopic world. After reading Robert Hooke’s Micrographia, Anthony van Leeuwenhoek became fascinated with the microscopic world. He made over 500 microscopes and with these instruments discovered blood and sperm cells in animals, and determined how fertilization occurred. He discovered microscopic nematodes and rotifers, and was the first to see microscopic foramnifera. This work, illustrated by Susan Lister, describes his discovery of wine salts and describes the nematode commonly known as vinegar eel. Image source: Leeuwenhoek, Antoni Van. “An extract of a letter from Mr. Anthony Leewenhoeck F. of the R. S. to a S. of the R. Society, dated from Delf, January 5th. 1685. Concerning the salts of wine and vinegar, &c.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, vol. 15, no. 170, 1685, pp. 963-979.
The Lister’s continued to update and perfect Historiae Conchyliorum. These plates of snail shells demonstrate changes from the 1685 to the 1770 “editio altera” with the addition of an image of a living snail. Signed with an “A,” the superb quality of this plate highlights Anna’s talents. Image source: Lister, Martin, et al. Historiae conchyliorum. Vol. 1, London: aere incisi, sumptibus authoris, 1685.
Updated plate of snail shells from the 1685 edition. Image source: Lister, Martin, et al. Historiae sive synopsis methodicae conchyliorum et tabularum anatomicarum. Editio altera. Oxford: E typographeo Clarendoniano, 1770.
