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Thomas Bell (1792-1880) Thomas Bell was a leading zoologist in the nineteenth century. Although a dental surgeon by trade, in 1835 he was appointed Professor of Zoology at King's College London. He was also pivotal in the running of scientific institutions in London, being a founder member of the Zoological Society of London and also President of the Linnean Society. Bell's zoological research was chiefly confined to the crustaceans. He was also well known for his publications including A History of British Quadrupeds (1836-7), A History of British Reptiles (1838-9) and A History of British Stalk-Eyed Crustacea (1844-53). A Monograph of the Testudinata was a departure from his previous publications due to its large size and its 40 magnificent hand coloured plates. The plates were reproductions of paintings by James de Carle Sowerby, produced by the process of lithography by Edward Lear. Bell was the first person to attempt to write a comprehensive account of the tortoises, and went to great lengths to acquire living tortoises which Sowerby was to draw. The book is the most outstanding collection of tortoise illustrations ever produced. As was usual at the time when expensive books were published, they were issued to subscribers in instalments. Between 1832 and 1836, eight parts were published before financial problems at the publishers forced the publication to stop before it could be completed. The book was highly acclaimed and probably resulted in Bell being invited to describe the reptiles that Charles Darwin had collected from the Galapagos Islands. Bell was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1828.
James de Carle Sowerby (1787-1871) James de Carle Sowerby was the eldest of the second generation
of a family of naturalists who dominated British natural history
writing, publishing and illustration for over 100 years. Similarly
to Bell, he was also a founder member of the Zoological Society
of London, and worked mostly on artistic commissions for natural
history publications.
John Edward Gray was Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum from 1840-1875. Through his energy and enthusiasm, he much improved the zoological collections to make them amongst the best in the world. He was knowledgeable about the entire zoology discipline, but he was especially interested in tortoises. The unsold parts of Bell's Monograph of the Testudinata, together with Sowerby's plates for the rest of the work were acquired by the publishers Sotheran's, who wished to publish a new edition of the 8 parts, incorporating the remaining plates. As Bell had declined to write text for the last plates, it was natural that Gray should have been asked to do it. In this way, a complete edition of the book Bell had started in 1832, was finally published 40 years later in 1872. It had a new 16 page introduction by Gray, accompanied by 61 plates by Sowerby, lithographed by Lear.
Edward Lear is best known today for his limerick verses, but he began life as a natural history draughtsman and lithographer and became one of the finest illustrators of birds of all time. He was the 20th of 21 children of a London stockbroker who fell on hard times. As soon as he could, Lear had to look for work. His older sisters had taught him drawing and with this skill he obtained jobs working at the London Zoo, illustrating the animals for guidebooks. On his own initiative, when aged only 18, Lear started a large format book called Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots (1832). He had only issued 42 plates when he ran into financial difficulties in 1832 and was forced to abandon the project. He happily accepted commissions from others to clear his debts, John Gould, the Earl of Derby and also Thomas Bell were among those who exploited Lear's artistic skills. In Bell's case, he employed Lear to make the tortoise prints by lithography. Lithography is an art in itself and Lear was one of the best at it. In 1837, Lear went to live in Italy but did not produce any more natural history drawings. He died there in 1888.
Lithography is a subtle technical process which was highly favoured for producing prints in the nineteenth century and is especially suitable for use in depicting animals. Very simply, the process works by using a fine-grained limestone block finished with a smooth polished surface. With a greasy crayon, the lithographer draws on the stone an outline of the subject. An inked roller, containing fatty substances, is then rubbed over the surface of the stone, and adheres to the lines made by the crayon. When specially prepared paper is passed over the stone in a lithographic printing press the image, in reverse, is transferred to the paper, ready for hand-colouring.
This painting, in vibrant watercolours, enhanced with gum arabic, is a beautiful and accurate picture of the Radiated tortoise. From the scales on the head to the striations and protuberances of the carapace (shell), the features of the live animal, imported from Madagascar in 1828, have been meticulously captured by Sowerby's paintbrush. The drawing was published as Plate 7 in A Monograph of the Testudinata.
The Radiated Tortoise (Testudo radiata), now called (Geochelone radiata, Shaw 1802) is a native of Madagascar. It lives in dry areas of woodland and scrub and thorn bush, and feeds on grasses, succulents and fruits. The females lay eggs several times a year, having about five eggs in the nest, which incubate for 145-231 days before the young tortoises hatch. Adults grow quite large, the carapace being up to 40 centimetres long. Today, the Radiated Tortoise is listed as vulnerable on the 2000 IUCN Red List. A captive breeding programme for these tortoises that has seen some success is at the New York Zoological Society's Wildlife Survival Center.
The John Edward Gray Drawings Collection J.E. Gray's widow, Maria Emma Gray, presented 66 original drawings of Testudinata by James de Carle Sowerby to the British Museum in 1875.
Exhibition and publication details Bell, T. (1832-36) A Monograph of the Testudinata. Samuel Highley : London. 8 parts. Bell, T. (c.1999) A Monograph of the Testudinata, London, 1832-1836. [computer file]. Octavo Corp. : Oakland, CA. (CD-ROM). Sowerby, J. de Carle, Lear, E. and Gray, J. E. (1872) Tortoises, Terrapins and Turtles drawn from Life by James de Carle Sowerby and Edward Lear ; [with an introduction and explanatory text by J. E. Gray]. Henry Sotheran, Joseph Baer & Co.: London. Sowerby, J. de Carle (1970) Tortoises, terrapins and turtles, drawn from life ; with a new introduction by Ernest E. Williams. (Facsimile reprints in herpetology No. 28). Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles: Ohio. 16pp.
References and further reading Ernst, C. H. & Barbour, R. W. (1989). Turtles of the World. Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington D.C. & London. 313pp. Ernst, C. H., Altenburg, R. G. M. & Barbour, R. W. (2000) Turtles of the World. Biodiversity Center of ETI, Multimedia Interactive Software (CD-ROM). Gerlach, J. (1998) Famous tortoises. J. Gerlach: Cambridge. 512pp. King, F. W. & Burke, R. L. (1989) Crocodilian, Tuatara, and Turtle Species of the World. A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Association of Systematic Collections: Washington D. C. 216pp. Turtle Conservation Fund (2002) A Global action plan for
conservation of tortoises and freshwater turtles : strategy
and funding prospectus 2002-2007. Turtle Conservation
Fund: [Washington, D.C.]. 30pp.
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