Introduction: worlds of history Nicholas Jardine and Emma Spary; Part I. Early Modern Ventures: 1. Visions of ancient natural history Brian W. Ogilvie; 2. Gessner's history of nature Sachiko Kusukawa; 3. Natural history in the apothecary's shop Valentina Pugliano; 4. Horticultural networking and sociable citation Leah Knight; [...]opean exchanges and communities Florike Egmond; 6. Making monsters Natalie Lawrence; 7. Indigenous naturalists Iris Montero Sobrevilla; 8. Insects, philosophy and the microscope Eric Jorink; Part II. Enlightened Orders: 9. The materials of natural history Paula Findlen and Anna Toledano; 10. Experimental natural history Mary Terrall; 11. Spatial arrangement and systematic order Robert Felfe; 12. Linnaean paper tools Staffan Müller-Wille; 13. Image and nature Kärin Nickelsen; 14. Botanical conquistadors Daniela Bleichmar; 15. Bird sellers and animal merchants Christopher Plumb; 16. Vegetable empire Miles Ogborn; Part III. Publics and Empires: 17. Containers and collections Anne Secord; 18. Natural history and the scientific voyage Katharine Anderson; 19. Humboldt's exploration at a distance Sandra Rebok; 20. Publics and practices Lynn K. Nyhart; 21. Museum nature Samuel J. M. M. Alberti; 22. Peopling natural history Sadiah Qureshi; 23. The oils of empire Sujit Sivasundaram; Part IV. Connecting and Conserving: 24. Global geology and the tectonics of empire James A. Secord; 25. Zoological gardens Mitchell G. Ash; 26. Provincializing global botany Jung Lee; 27. Descriptive and prescriptive taxonomies Jim Endersby; 28. Imperiled crops and endangered flowers Helen Anne Curry; 29. Networks of natural history in Latin America Regina Horta Duarte; 30. The unnatural history of postwar human biology Joanna Radin; 31. Fieldwork out of place Etienne Benson; 32. Wild visions Morgan Richards; Epilogue: natural history and its histories in the twenty-first century Helen Anne Curry and James A. Secord.