History of Science and Nature materials in Haverford Special Collections (HC)

By William Smellie, who was an encyclopedist involved in the creation of the first edition of Encyclopedia Britannica. This work discusses the life-cycle of animals as it differs across different species.

By Francis Bacon. This book is a treatise on medicine including observations on aging, the nature of blood, and the operation of digestion.

By Charles Darwin. A first-edition copy of Darwin’s work on evolution.

By Edward Drinker Cope. This work contains 21 essays organized into the topics of “general evolution,” “structural evidence of evolution,” mechanical evolution,” and “metaphysical evolution.” Includes illustrations.

By Edward Drinker Cope. Presents evidence of evolution drawing on paleontology organized into sections on “the nature of variation,” “the causes of variation,” and “the inheritance of variation.” Includes illustrations.

By Ulisse Aldrovandi, a 16th century Italian naturalist who also collected a vast number of botanical and zoological specimens.

Edward Drinker Cope was an American geologist who taught at Haverford and the University of Pennsylvania. He discovered over a thousand species of fossilized vertebrates during his career and is famous for his disputes with Othniel Charles Marsh. This collection contains letters, notebooks, notes and sketches related to Cope's work in paleontology and related natural sciences. Collection contains sketches of birds, reptiles and amphibians, some colored.

By Matthew Maury, who was an American oceanographer and navy officer. This book is notable for being one of the first surveys of oceanography and includes discussion of the gulf stream, the atmosphere, and the geography of the floor of the Atlantic.

By Louis Aggasiz, who was a geologist famous for being one of the first to propose an ice age in geologic history and for controversy surrounding his theory of polygenism and rejection of evolution. This work is in part a travelogue of Agassiz’s visit to Lake Superior and part his observations on the geology of the area. It contains numerous illustrations.

By Edward Drinker Cope, who was an American geologist who taught at Haverford and the University of Pennsylvania. He discovered over a thousand species of fossilized vertebrates during his career and is famous for his disputes with Othniel Charles Marsh. This work is a collection of some of Cope’s publications between 1869 and 1886 focusing on vertebrate fossils.

By Edward Drinker Cope. Records some of Cope’s lectures on classes of vertebrates along with a short overview of his work.

By Thomas Nicols. First edition of the first book in English on gemstones.