Hundreds Of Victorian Art Prints From The Naturalist’s Library Are Now Digitised And Online

Before the online universe was even dreamed of, and when computers were only theoretical and powered by steam (See Babbage), when people wanted information, they needed to find it in a book. There were very learned people at the time who were often seen as human encyclopaedias, however long gone were the days when the entirety of contemporary understanding could be held in the head of one individual. With the age of professional printing in full swing, the days of the multi-volume set began to take root. One such library of information was the Naturalist’s Library by Sir William Jardine.  
 
In the typical style of the Victorian era, the illustrations are meticulously hand drawn, painted with the best inks, and are adorned with copious embellishments for reading pleasure. The entire directory covers over 1300 individual images with entire book sets dedicated to one kind of animal such as the birds or the insects. During the 19th Century, the wealthy city folk began to yearn for the lost natural world that lay beneath fortified iron and concrete. The brick buildings that billowed coalsmoke wiped away the happy shine of trees, rivers, and the reflection of the sun on lush meadows underfoot. 
 
When there was work to do and you couldn’t make a happy getaway, you could turn to your Naturalist’s Library and surround yourself with the fauna of the wilderness, whose romantic memory still lingers among the trundles of trains and the shuffling of horse drawn coach. Made using steel engravings, the prints could be reproduced indefinitely provided the original cast remained intact. The colour choices were given for each etching, so every copy retained the correct information. 
 
The book set itself is still available in paper form, for those who enjoy wildlife and the Victorian mind, and for those who like to browse or use images for their own creativity, the illustrations are on the archive website. Despite its 200 years of age, much of the work is in still valid and, when it is not, it gives a fascinating insight into the previous era.  
 
Via My Modern Met 
​​