Natural History

One of the earliest authors of Natural History rare books was Pierre Belon, whose 1555 work L'Histoire de la Nature des Oyseaux was one of the first drawn from direct observation and illustrated after original drawings, featuring 158 large vignette woodcuts of birds. Nuremberg apothecary & botanist Basilius Besler enlightened the 17th century with his monumental Hortus Eystettensis (1613), the largest book ever printed at the time, with 368 engraved plates of flowers and plants.

The 18th century was however where Natural History rare books truly came of age, in part through the more regular usage of copper-engraved & etched plates and illustrations, which allowed for a finer degree of detail than wood-engraving. Key figures from this period include Eleazar Albin, who produced monographs on, for example, song-birds as well as the first British book on birds to use coloured plates, A Natural History of Birds (1731-34); Thomas Pennant produced his epic British Zoology between 1761 & 1766, an ambitious attempt to capture all known British birds and quadrupeds in one work; The Botanical Magazine by William Curtis suitably bridged the 18th & 19th centuries, comprising 46 volumes (plus indices) and featuring over 2000 engraved plates, many after well known botanical artists of their time, including James Sowerby, Sydenham Edwards and William Jackson Hooker.

Natural History Rare Books of the 19th Century

The 19th century saw the art of the book elevated to new heights, with the colour plate bird and flower books especially achieving levels of excellence never before realised. The great Natural History rare books by the likes of Pierre-Joseph Redouté, John Gould, John James Audubon, Daniel Giraud Elliot and Richard Bowdler Sharpe were highly prized, invaluable highpoints and status symbols for the libraries of wealthy connoisseurs (something which remains true to this day).

However, the 19th century also saw important developments in the natural sciences, particularly in the Victorian era and notably with works by such important luminaries as Charles Darwin (biology & evolution theory), Charles Lyell (geology) and Thomas Henry Huxley (anthropology & biology). First editions of these authors' Natural History books can be highly collectable, especially if in the original bindings, and obviously if signed or inscribed by the authors.