A New World: England's First View of America

Sloan, Kim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807831255 ISBN 13: 9780807831250

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press, 2007

This beautifully illustrated book reproduces in full the famous and rarely seen British Museum collection of drawings and watercolors made by John White, who in 1585 accompanied a group of English settlers sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to found a colony on Roanoke Island, North Carolina. White's duties included making visual records of everything he encountered that was then unknown in England, including plants, animals, and birds, as well as the human inhabitants, especially their dress, weapons, tools, and ceremonies. The collection also includes White's watercolors of Florida and Brazilian Indians and of the Inuit encountered by Martin Frobisher. Here each work is reproduced in color and supplemented by engravings by Theodor de Bry and other comparable works. Kim Sloan's introduction sets the scene, followed by chapters placing John White and his work in their historical, cultural, and artistic contexts. Joyce Chaplin explores how White's contemporaries viewed his work and Christian Feest assesses its accuracy as historical documentation. Ute Kuhlemann examines the role of de Bry, White's Frankfurt publisher and engraver. The book explores John White's role as a colonist, surveyor, and artist who not only recorded plants and animals but also provided Elizabethan England with its first glimpse of a now-lost American Indian culture and way of life.

Review:

"Put[s] White's paintings, beautifully reproduced, into the hands of a large number of readers." -- "Huntington Library Quarterly" "A well-rounded portrait of White, his significance, and his role in England's early colonial activities in North America." -- "Winterthur Portfolio" "Provides not only a new edition of White's images but also many new insights and perspectives on the artist." --"American Literary History" "Full of insightful revelations, subtle inferences, and extraordinary detail that bring to both the serious scholar and casual reader a refreshing look at the corpus of John White's work." -- "NC Historical Review" "A thought-provoking volume." -- "Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology" "Provides background and context for White and his work in three deeply researched essays as well as in the text accompanying the beautifully reproduced watercolors from the exhibition." -- "William and Mary Quarterly" "This handsome collaborative volume . . . brings the best of today's interdisciplinary scholarship to bear on his work in both its original and engraved versions." -- "International History Review" "A masterful book that should be strongly recommended for all ages, classrooms, and libraries. . . . Highly recommended." -- "CHOICE" "Splendid. . . . A great contribution to early Carolinian history." -- "Post and Courier" "This book should be in every library devoted to art and history." -- "Imprint"

About the Author:

Kim Sloan is curator of British drawings and watercolors and Francis Finlay Curator of the Enlightenment Gallery in the British Museum. Her three previous books include "A Noble Art": Amateur Artists and Drawing Masters, c. 1600-1800.