Sir William Jardine, a Scottish naturalist, created The Naturalist’s Library, an impressively large catalog of wildlife, to bring the wonders of the natural world into the homes of the Victorian middle class. Originally published in 40 volumes between 1833 and 1843, it covered four broad topics: ornithology (14 volumes), mammalia (13 volumes), entomology (7 volumes), and ichthyology (6 volumes). More than 1,300 plates were illustrated, depicting a variety of wildlife paired with detailed descriptions.
Hundreds of scans were reviewed to source the highest quality images, each of which was carefully restored to honor the original artists’ intent and preserve the fine details of the steel engravings from which they were produced. The complete contents of all 40 volumes have been reproduced, with high-resolution, freely downloadable versions of every image included. A full bibliography has also been provided, with links to hundreds of other historical volumes referenced in the compilation of The Naturalist’s Library.
To complement the digital edition, a collection of 27 posters was created featuring complete collections of different wildlife from across all 40 volumes and for the first time, every illustration has been compiled into a single comprehensive book.
