MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 13, 2022
In 1663, 122 years before legendary naturalist John Audubon was even born, Englishman John Josselyn sailed from London to Maine to stay with his brother. Josselyn lived in Scarborough for eight years, exploring New England to observe and catalogue native flora and fauna. An amateur naturalist, though highly enthusiastic, he compiled his findings in a slim, 114-page book, “New-Englands Rarities Discovered: in birds, beasts, fishes, serpents, and plants of that country,” published in 1672, complete with old-English typeface, woodcut illustrations of plants, and the charmingly random capitalization of the time. “It’s the earliest description of New England’s plants and animals,” said Don Lindgren, owner of Rabelais: Fine Books.