About the project

Sir William Jardine (1800–1874), 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. It was intended to be a more accessible alternative to the “unwieldy folios” from other naturalists—large, expensive books detailing their journeys and sights across the globe.

The Naturalist’s Library was originally published in 40 volumes in Edinburgh by his brother-in-law, W. H. Lizars, between 1833 and 1843 and was eventually systematically divided into four main sections: Ornithology (14 volumes), Mammalia (13 volumes), Entomology (7 volumes), and Ichthyology (6 volumes). Each volume contained around 30 plates of beautiful illustrations depicting a variety of wildlife paired with detailed descriptions as well as a memoir of a leading naturalist, spanning more than 2,000 years, dating back to Pliny the Elder and Aristotle.

The Naturalist’s Library was an immense commercial success, selling exceptionally well and cementing itself as a major publishing triumph that led to numerous editions and re-prints throughout the 19th century. It was highly regarded for combining scientific accuracy with affordable, visually stunning illustrations. It was one of the first successful attempts to popularize comprehensive natural history, and encouraged the widespread enthusiasm for the natural sciences across the Victorian public.

1,300+ illustrations

1,347 beautifully detailed illustrations depicted many of the creatures mentioned throughout The Library, paired with descriptions about their appearance, localities, and behaviors. The plates were originally engraved in steel to ensure fine lines before being hand-colored on the small prints which measured only approximately 4 × 6 inches. Unlike the softer copper plates used in earlier eras, steel plates allowed for finer detail and could withstand thousands of impressions without wearing down, which was essential for the commercial success of such a large-scale series. Artists and engravers, including William Home Lizars, first etched the intricate outlines and textures of the animals onto the metal.

Once the black-and-white images were printed, they were passed to teams of colorists who applied watercolors by hand. This labor-intensive process was guided by “pattern plates” created by lead artists to ensure consistency across the thousands of copies produced. Because each plate was colored individually, slight variations exist between different copies of the same volume. The background of many plates was often left uncolored or featured simple monochrome landscapes to save time and keep the focus on the primary subject of the natural history study.

Publication History

After and during its its original run, The Naturalist’s Library underwent multiple reissues and thematic rearrangements by various publishers throughout the nineteenth century and beyond. These subsequent editions often featured updated plate colorations and altered volume sequences to suit the evolving demands of the Victorian book market.

Restoration

To present this complete collection in its highest possible form, each plate has undergone a rigorous process of individual digital restoration. High-resolution scans of the originals were meticulously cleaned, one by one. This process involved correcting the color fidelity to remove yellowing and age-related shifts, carefully stabilizing the contrast between the black engraved lines and the delicate hand-applied pigments, and digitally removing the distracting imperfections inherent to antique paper, such as foxing and minor printing flaws. The goal was not to repaint the images, but to restore them to a state that honors the original artists’ intent and the precise details achieved by the steel engravings. The result is a visual archive of Victorian natural history art, now preserved for a new generation.

Many scans of all volumes are available on several platforms at varying levels of quality.

View original scans

Sources

Throughout the digital edition, more than 6,500 links have been carefully embedded into the synonymies, footnotes, and bibliographic references that point to the broader world of natural history literature. Wherever Jardine and his contributors cited or drew upon other works, those references now link directly to the corresponding pages and plates in digitized editions of those very books. Entries marked with an image icon indicate that the linked source shows an illustration of that same species, allowing readers to compare how different naturalists illustrated the same creature. These links provide a wealth of supplementary detail on animal behavior, physical description, habitat, and stories about their encounters. A complete list of all sources is also available.

By the Numbers

• 
  40 Volumes in The Naturalist’s Library
• 
  42 Memoirs of notable naturalists
• 
  2.4m Words formatted across all volumes
• 
  1,347 Plates of wildlife restored
• 
  361 Scans of original copies consulted
• 
  976 Bibliographic sources found
• 
  27 Posters created featuring wildlife
• 
  ~800 Pages in one book containing all plates
• 
  9 Months spent creating this project

Behind the Scenes

Previously, this entire collection required access to a rare, expensive, and fragile set of the original volumes or browsing digital scans of the originals. For the first time, Jardine’s complete Library has been reimagined, restored, and reassembled into this one single, accessible site, including the entire collection of plates and accompanying text freely available for everyone to enjoy in a new light. This project removes the historical barrier of rarity, offering the rich legacy of Victorian scientific illustration to enthusiasts everywhere.

See how it was made

Corrections

Every effort has been made to create an accurate digital edition of The Naturalist’s Library but errors can still slip through—whether they’re from scans of the original text, misinterpretations of figures, or something else. Please send corrections and they will be fixed.

Send corrections

Licensing

Everyone should be able to enjoy and use Jardine’s collection of illustrations in their own projects if they’re useful. To help with this, all of the restored illustrations have been released under the CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) license and can be used freely without any restrictions.

Site, poster, and book designs are copyright Nicholas Rougeux.