The collections housed in natural history museums aren’t just collections of objects. They are also collections of names that take the form of labels and inscriptions attached to every object, every drawer, and every case, extending beyond to rooms, halls, and even whole wings. The physical and typographical appearance of the names’ material textualization can be as varied as the names themselves, and often with its own particular beauty.
Among the images in this book are those of objects housed in the collections and exhibits of the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, where I photographed them (figures 1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, 2.6, 2.7, 3.1, 3.3, 3.5, 3.6, 4.7, 4.9, 5.1, 5.4, 6.1, 6.7, 7.2, 7.3, 8.1, 8.3, 8.4, 9.2, and 9.6). The goal was to present this textualization of scientific names (in a place of such taxonomic influence) in all its diversity and beauty. The collection pieces were not arranged, cleaned, or otherwise moved into frame. Instead, they were selected on the spot and photographed with a smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S4). There was one exception: the alcohol-filled storage jars pictured had to be moved from their home in the east wing of the museum and arranged elsewhere because fire code prohibits photography in that area.
To this English edition of the book have been joined additional images, from far beyond the walls of the museum in Berlin—photographs from archival collections, figures from published species descriptions, artistic renderings of key species, portraits of the scientists under discussion on these pages—at passages where the textual description was suited to augmentation by visual reference.