The Reverend Jackson Whitehead served as the ship's chaplain aboard the HMS Pica, sister ship to the HMS Beagle, which accompanied the Beagle on its second survey expedition in 1831. Whitehead entertained himself between landfalls by creating a whole series of natural history specimens made up out of typographical characters. Some were based on the creatures the expedition discovered, others mere flights of fancy. Only recently, after the restoration of Whitehead's ancestral Jacobean manor house, has the manuscript of his work come to light. Edited by artist A.W. Bainbridge, Typographic Specimens presents Whitehead's menagerie of beasts, fish, fowl and invertebrates, all created from traditional typefaces, numerals and punctuation marks. There are 52 examples, ranging from the Bracket Spider or "Hanging Parentheses," which traps its prey by encasing them in its finely bracketed web, to the Comma Cat, identifiable by its very short pause. This collectible edition includes an analytical index of each creature's typographical DNA, along with a guide to the proper scientific method for creating specimens of your own. A set of typographic characters is provided with which to conduct your studies, along with a cover frame that invites the reader to customize their book by inserting a favorite discovery.