Historical Book Images

The Biodiversity Heritage Library has thousands of illustrations of flora and fauna. This unaffiliated bot shares random images from the collection.

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🦜 Recueil de divers oiseaux étrangers et peu communs A Nuremberg: Chez les Héritiers de Seligmann, 1768-1776. Original source Image description: Historical illustration of a colorful parrot perched on a twisted, leafless tree branch. The parrot features green and yellow plumage with blue wing tips, a red throat patch, and red and green tail feathers. It has a white patch on its head near the beak, which is curved and prominently open. The branch is rooted in a small grassy area with some low plants and reddish shrubbery. The image includes period-style text labels in German and French identifying the bird as "Le Perroquet à Tête blanche" from the 1768-1776 collection "Recueil de divers oiseaux étrangers et peu communs."

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🦁 The birds of North America New York, U.S.A.: Published under the auspices of the Natural Science Association of America, 1895, c1888. Original source Image description: Historical illustration titled "The birds of North America" showing a detailed, hand-colored print of ten small bird species perched on and around leaf-covered branches and a fallen log in a savanna-like setting. The birds vary in color from brown and gray to yellow and green hues, with patterns like spots and stripes distinctly visible. The background includes soft-toned sky and distant trees, emphasizing a natural habitat. Each bird is numbered for identification, highlighting scientific observation. The scene captures the diversity and delicate features of North American savanna bird species from the late 19th century.

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🦁 Birdcraft: . New York: Macmillan, 1895.. Original source Image description: Historical illustration titled "Birdcraft" from 1895, depicting sixteen numbered bird species commonly found in the savanna. The birds vary in size and coloration, perched on small branches or patches of ground with minimal foliage, showing details of their plumage, beak shapes, and postures. Some birds are shown with open beaks, others with closed beaks, highlighting differences in their markings such as speckles, stripes, and solid colors, ranging from browns and reds to blacks and greys. The delicate naturalistic illustration focuses on scientific accuracy and bird identification within a simple, off-white background.

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🖼️ Oriental memoirs: London: Printed for the author by T. Bensley: 1813. Original source Image description: Illustration of the Eastern Gate of the Jama Masjid at Delhi, showcasing grand Mughal architecture with intricate arched windows, tall minarets, and ornate details. A wide staircase leads down to the gate, where armed soldiers and elephants with riders are depicted, suggesting a scene of activity or procession. The composition highlights the monument's scale and detailed craftsmanship, framed by a partly cloudy sky and a few, sparse trees in the foreground and background. The overall sepia tone emphasizes the historical nature of the 1813 print.

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🪱 The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands: . London: Printed for B. White, 1771.. Original source Image description: Illustration from 1771 showing a large centipede beneath the soil with many segmented legs, detailed in brown and orange hues. Above ground, a plant with broad, green, serrated leaves and small, yellowish-green star-shaped flowers extends upward. The centipede is positioned horizontally along the bottom edge, emphasizing its size and segmented body. The style is typical of historic natural history prints, combining botanical and entomological elements in a single image for scientific study.

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🦕 A monograph of the fossil Reptilia of the Liassic formations London, Printed for the Palæontographical society, 1861-81. Original source Image description: Illustration showing detailed fossilized bones and teeth of two Jurassic ichthyosaur species, Ichthyosaurus longifrons and I. communis. The centerpiece is a large, circular eye socket or skull fragment with visible fine texture and fractures. Surrounding it are multiple elongated, conical teeth with ribbed surfaces, depicted in various views. On the right, a long, narrow bone section reveals intricate internal structures and fossilized sutures. The drawing is a scientifically precise lithograph from the 19th century, emphasizing the anatomical features of these extinct marine reptiles from the Liassic formations. Plate labeled "XXIV" at the top right.

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🦢 Skandinaviens fugle, . Kjøbenhavn, L.A. Jørgensen, 1875-1879.. Original source Image description: Illustration from "Skandinaviens fugle" (1875-1879) depicting six bird species, including three storks. The birds are shown in detailed, colored drawings, standing on grassy patches by water. Notable storks include the white stork with black wing tips and red legs, the black stork with a dark body and red legs, and other wading birds with long legs and beaks. Each bird is labeled with scientific and common names in multiple languages. The scene highlights characteristic plumage, posture, and natural habitat typical of Scandinavian waterfowl and stork species.

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🦭 The fur seals and fur-seal islands of the North Pacific Ocean. v.3. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1898-99. Original source Image description: Black and white historical photograph showing a rocky shoreline on St. Paul Island’s Gorbatch rookery, dated July 4, 1897. The main subjects are a group of fur seals resting among large rocks and boulders. Two large rocks are marked with the numbers "3" and "25," indicating the designation of a seal "harem" known as "Harem 25." The seals vary in size, with some lying down and others sitting upright, illustrating typical group behavior during the breeding season. The image captures a natural seal habitat characteristic of the North Pacific fur seal population in the late 19th century.

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🦌 Fauna japonica, sive, Descriptio animalium, quae in itinere per Japoniam, jussu et auspiciis, superiorum, qui summum in India Batava imperium tenent, suscepto, annis 1823-1830 Lugduni Batavorum: Apud Auctorem, 1833-1850. Original source Image description: Detailed historical illustration of six different crab species from "Fauna Japonica," displaying full dorsal views of each crab with detailed textures and markings. The crabs are arranged with corresponding detailed close-ups of claws and abdominal segments nearby, highlighting anatomical variations. The image is labeled with species names "Portunus," "Cancer," and "Grapsus," and includes Latin scientific nomenclature and numbering for each specimen. The illustration is monochromatic, focusing on anatomy and texture, and serves as a scientific study of Japanese crustacean fauna from the early 19th century.

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🦜 Histoire naturelle et générale des grimpereaux et des oiseaux de paradis /. Paris: Desray, an XI = 1802.. Original source Image description: Illustration of a bird of paradise perched on a thin, angled branch. The bird is shown in profile with detailed, layered feathers covering its body, wings, and tail. It has a slender, pointed beak, a textured head with a small crest of feathers above the eye, and sharp claws gripping the branch. The image is a black and white engraving from 1802, emphasizing fine feather patterns and naturalistic textures. Below the bird is the handwritten French title "Le Superbe. Pl. 7." against a plain background.

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🦭 Our living world. v.1. New York: S. Hess, [1885] Original source Image description: Black and white historical illustration of three walruses resting on rocky terrain near the water. The largest walrus sits upright with prominent long tusks and whiskers, while a second adult appears to nuzzle a smaller walrus pup lying on the rocks. In the background, additional walruses are visible among rugged cliffs and flying seabirds fill the sky. The detailed engraving highlights the walruses’ textured skin, flippers, and distinctive facial features, suggesting a natural Arctic coastal habitat. The image is captioned "WALRUS" at the bottom.

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🌹 Les roses Paris: J. Rothschild, Éditeur ..., 1873. Original source Image description: Illustration of a deep red rose named "Baron de Gonella" from 1873, showing a fully bloomed flower with numerous layered petals and a single rosebud on a long green stem. The rose is accompanied by several detailed green leaves with visible veins. The background is plain beige, highlighting the flower's rich colors and intricate petal structure.

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🐼 Fauna japonica, sive, Descriptio animalium, quae in itinere per Japoniam, jussu et auspiciis, superiorum, qui summum in India Batava imperium tenent, suscepto, annis 1823-1830 Lugduni Batavorum: Apud Auctorem, 1833-1850. Original source Image description: Illustration of a large baleen whale labeled "Balaenoptera antarctica," shown in profile swimming to the right. The whale has a dark gray to black upper body with a lighter gray underside and detailed pleats along its throat and belly. The tail flukes and one pectoral fin are visible. The whale's head is broad and rounded, with small bumps near the top and a partially open mouth revealing baleen plates. The image is from a historical scientific text "Fauna Japonica," with minimal background and plain beige paper.

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🌅 The natural history of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands: London: Printed for B. White, 1771. Original source Image description: Illustration from 1771 depicting a small brown sparrow perched beneath a twisting vine of morning glory with green leaves and purple trumpet-shaped flowers, one fully open. A large moth with spotted white and black wings and vivid orange and black-striped body rests on the open flower. The scene illustrates natural elements typical of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahamas at morning time. The delicate intertwining vine and detailed bird and insect highlight the region’s diverse flora and fauna.

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🏵 Vollständige Naturgeschichte der forstlichen Culturpflanzen Deutschlands. Berlin, A. Förstner'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung (P. Jeanrenaud)1851. Original source Image description: Historical botanical illustration of Abies excelsa (Norway spruce) depicting green needle-like leaves on branchlets, red immature cones, and a large mature brown cone with visible scales. Additional detailed drawings include cross-sections and seeds of the cones, emphasizing reproductive structures. The style is hand-colored line art typical of 19th-century forestry botanical studies, highlighting features relevant to "forstlichen" (forestry) cultivation in Germany. The image is labeled with species name and publication details from 1851 Berlin.

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🎣 Natural history of the animal kingdom for the use of young people Brighton: E. & J.B. Young and Co., 1889. Original source Image description: Illustration from an 1889 natural history book showing various marine animals, including jellyfish and related species. The image features a detailed starfish with five arms, a spiny sea urchin, a sea cucumber with textured skin, and several jellyfish species with translucent bell shapes and long, trailing tentacles. One jellyfish has a dome-shaped bell with a network of veins, another shows a Portuguese Man-of-War with a gas-filled float and numerous stinging tentacles. Smaller aquatic organisms and delicate structures like comb jellies and siphonophores are also depicted, each labeled with scientific names in fine detail, emphasizing the diversity within Coelenterata.

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🐚 The universal conchologist London: Sold [by the author] at his house, no. 16 Great Marlborough Street, 1789. Original source Image description: Illustration from 1789 showing two detailed views of a brown conch shell with a spiraled, pointed top and rows of small spherical bumps along its whorls. The left shell is displayed with its wide, curved opening facing forward, revealing a smooth, lighter interior with a dark brown gradient inside. The right shell is shown from the back, highlighting the spiral texture and the rounded edges. The shells are centered within a simple double-lined square frame on a yellowed, aged paper background. The upper right corner of the page includes a small, handwritten label "Fig 54."