W. Hamilton Gibson

William Hamilton Gibson (1850-1896) was an American illustrator, naturalist, and essayist, born at Sandy Hook, Connecticut. He built his reputation on exacting pen-and-ink studies of plants and insects, drawn for The Youth's Companion, St. Nicholas, and above all Harper's Monthly, and he both wrote and illustrated popular natural history books including Sharp Eyes: A Rambler's Calendar and Eye Spy. A tireless lecturer as well, he pressed the case for close observation of common things at a time when American nature writing was still open to the amateur. He died at 45 of a stroke brought on by overwork, at Washington, Connecticut, where he kept the summer studio that gives this collection its setting.