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The Duchess's Shells: Natural History Collecting in the Age of Cookâ€™s Voyages

By (author) Beth Fowkes Tobin

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Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, the 2nd Duchess of Portland (1715â€“1785), was one of the wealthiest women in eighteenth-century Britain. She collected fine and decorative arts (the Portland Vase was her most famous acquisition), but her great love was natural history, and shells in particular. Over the course of twenty years, she amassed the largest shell collection of her time, Â which was sold after her death in a spectacular auction. Â Beth Fowkes Tobin illuminates the interlocking issues surrounding the global circulation of natural resources, the commodification of nature, and the construction of scientific value through the lens of one womanâ€™s marvelous collection. This unique study tells the story of the collectionâ€™s formation and dispersalâ€”about the sailors and naturalists who ferried rare specimens across oceans and the dealersâ€™ shops and connoisseursâ€™ cabinets on the other side of the world. Exquisitely illustrated, this book brings to life Enlightenment natural history and its cultures of collecting, scientific expeditions, and vibrant visual culture. Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

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The Memory Collectors: A Novel

Dete Meserve
Paperback / softback
320 pages

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The Coming Wave: AI, Power and Our Future

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Paperback / softback
352 pages
was: R 295.95
now: R 265.95
Stock is usually dispatched in 6-12 days from date of order

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Survive the AI Apocalypse: A guide for solutionists

Bronwyn Williams
Paperback / softback
232 pages
was: R 340.95
now: R 306.95
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The Colonialist: The Vision of Cecil Rhodes

William Kelleher Storey
Paperback / softback
528 pages
was: R 425.95
now: R 382.95
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This first comprehensive biography of Cecil Rhodes in a generation illuminates Rhodesâ€™s vision for the expansion of imperialism in southern Africa, connecting politics and industry to internal development, and examines how this fueled a lasting, white-dominated colonial society.

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