Collecting

This chapter explores the collecting practices of collectors. It discusses the availability of specimens from different sources, including poulterers’ markets, gamekeepers, taxidermists, auctions, dealers and the risk of fraud from commercial dealers. It discusses closed networks among collectors and the importance of correspondence. It establishes how Dresser set up a ‘system of collecting’ with his contemporaries: a collecting network, based on exchanging specimens. The chapter compares his collecting to the ways he conducted business as a merchant. Dresser’s specialities and monopolies of particular species of bird are discussed. It sets out his increasing ambitions in exchanging specimens with museum curators. It also discusses the growth of Henry’s collection through the 1860s as a result of his relationships. It discusses the difference between those who thought of themselves as dealers of specimens, and enthusiasts who exchanged specimens to benefit their collections.