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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🦣 Mighty animals New York, American book company[c1912] Original source Image description: Illustration of a large American mastodon in a prehistoric landscape. The mastodon is shown in profile with thick, wrinkled skin, a bulky body, and a long, curved pair of tusks extending from its upper jaw. Its trunk is curled downward as it grazes near dense vegetation. In the background, faint outlines of other mastodons or similar animals are visible across an open plain with scattered trees and foliage, evoking an ancient environment. The style is monochromatic with detailed shading, typical of early 20th-century scientific illustrations.

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🕊️ Histoire des plantes de la Guiane Françoise, rangées suivant la méthode sexuelle, avec plusieurs mémoires sur différens objets intéressans, relatifs à la culture & au commerce de la Guiane Françoise, & une notice des plantes de l'Isle-de-France ... Londres, P.F. Didot jeune, 1775. Original source Image description: Illustration of Simaba Guyannensis plant featuring a central woody stem with elongated, veined leaves branching out. Small clusters of delicate flowers with multiple stamens are visible near the leaves. Below the main branch, seven detailed botanical sketches highlight different flower parts, including petals, buds, and seeds. The image is a black and white line drawing on aged paper, framed with a simple border and labeled "Pl. 153" in the top right. The drawing is from an 18th-century French botanical text, focusing on detailed plant morphology and classification.

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🐙 The Cephalopoda of the Hawaiian Islands.. Washington, Govt. Print. Off., 1914.. Original source Image description: Illustration from 1912 depicting two detailed octopuses from the Hawaiian Islands. The upper octopus is shown from a top-side view with its arms curled and visible suckers, emphasizing texture and arm structure. The lower octopus is presented from a frontal underside perspective, highlighting its head, eyes, and spread arms with distinct suckers. A smaller detailed insert shows a close-up of a tentacle tip and suction cups. The drawing is finely stippled to represent texture and form, typical of early 20th-century scientific plates. The image includes labels and publication details indicating its origin from a government scientific bulletin.

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🐻 Wild animals of North America Washington, D.C., The National geographical society[c1918] Original source Image description: Illustration of a grizzly bear in a mountainous North American landscape, dated circa 1918. The bear is shown in profile, standing on rocky ground with its large, muscular body covered in thick brown fur with lighter patches around the shoulders. Its head is lowered, sniffing or investigating a rock. The background features rolling hills, grassy fields, and distant snow-capped mountains under a pale sky. The scene captures the bear's natural habitat and physical strength, emphasizing the rugged wilderness typical of grizzly bears. The image is detailed and rendered in soft, natural colors typical of early 20th-century wildlife illustrations.

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🦎 The birds of eastern North America: . Newtonville, Mass.: C.J. Maynard & co., 1896.. Original source Image description: Illustration of a small bird perched on a pine tree branch with long, slender green needles. The bird has a slender body, grayish wings, a white underside, and a brownish head with a dark eye stripe. The background is plain, highlighting the detailed naturalistic depiction of the bird and branch. The image is labeled "PLATE XL" and includes the initials "C.J.M." at the bottom right, indicating the artist. The style is delicate and precise, typical of 19th-century natural history illustrations.

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🐉 Ulyssis Aldrovandi .... Bononiæ, apud C. Ferronium, 1640.. Original source Image description: Illustration of a dragon from a 1640 publication by Ulyssis Aldrovandi. The dragon is depicted with a long, sinuous body covered in detailed scales, a prominent wing with webbed, fin-like segments, and clawed limbs. Its head features a fierce expression, open mouth revealing sharp teeth, and a crest or frill extending from the top. The dragon’s tail curls into a loop at the bottom of the image. The style is a black ink engraving on aged paper, with text visible in the background, emphasizing a historical scientific or natural history context. The page number 423 is shown in the top right corner.

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🐾 Edinburgh journal of natural history and of the physical sciences. Edinburgh [etc.]: Published for the proprietor [etc.], 1835-1840. Original source Image description: Illustration from an 1835-1840 natural history journal depicting six canids labeled with scientific and common names. The top section shows a slender brown jackal and a large gray hyena with a bushy, ringed tail. The middle section features a small fennec fox with large ears next to a painted wild dog with a distinctive orange, black, and white spotted coat. The bottom section shows a striped brown civet-like animal standing upright facing a white-gray wolf with red eyes. The naturalistic background includes grass, plants, rocky terrain, and distant hills, emphasizing species diversity within the canine family, including the hyena.

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🐺 Annual report /. [Albany, N.Y.: The Commission, 1903]-1911. Original source Image description: Black-and-white historical photograph of a man standing outdoors in rugged terrain, wearing a coat and hat, holding a dead wolverine by its hind legs. The wolverine's body hangs down, its fur visible with distinct markings. A rifle rests against a rock near the man's feet. Caption below reads, "Wolverine killed by Robert Walcott in Labrador," indicating the man is Robert Walcott and the location is Labrador. The image is from an early 20th-century annual report in Albany, New York.

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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 titled "Antelopes and Giraffes" from an 1889 natural history book. The main subject is a detailed giraffe standing on a grassy plain, showing its long neck, distinctive spotted coat, and ossicones. To the left, two antelopes are depicted on rocky terrain: one standing on a ledge with dark brown fur and curved horns, the other lying down with lighter brown fur. In the background, three smaller giraffes are shown walking near a tree, adding depth to the scene. The illustration includes scientific names for each animal, emphasizing educational use for young readers.

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😸 Dogs, jackals, wolves, and foxes London R.H. Porter 1890 Original source Image description: Illustration of a Southern Dhole jackal (Cyon javanicus var. Dukhunensis) standing in profile against a pale background with tall grasses. It has a reddish-brown coat, lighter underbelly, and a distinctive black patch on its neck. The tail is bushy and black-tipped. The jackal’s ears are pointed, and its face is slender with a focused expression, suggesting alertness. The setting includes subtle ground details and a small body of water in the distance. This 1890 historical drawing by J.G. Keulemans emphasizes naturalistic detail and coloration.

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🐒 Musei Leveriani explicatio, anglica et latina [London]: Impensis Jacobi Parkinson, 1792-1796. Original source Image description: Illustration of two ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) beside a tree with green leaves and fruit. One lemur clings to a branch, facing left with wide, expressive eyes and a long, striped tail curling upward. The other sits on the ground, raising arms and showing a similar striped tail. The background features palm trees, low hills, and an overcast sky, suggesting a natural habitat. The illustration emphasizes the lemurs' distinctive black-and-white tails, large eyes, and slender limbs, typical primate features, rendered in soft, muted colors with fine detail.

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🍐 Aepfel und Birnen, . Berlin, Paul Parey, 1894.. Original source Image description: Illustration of two yellow pears labeled "Klapps Liebling" attached to a short brown stem with several green leaves. The pears show subtle shading to highlight their rounded, plump shape, and the leaves display detailed vein patterns and a slightly curled appearance. The vintage botanical style emphasizes natural colors and fine botanical accuracy. The background is a plain light beige, focusing attention on the fruit and leaves.

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🦛 Life-histories of African game animals New York, C. Scribner's Sons, 1914. Original source Image description: Two black-and-white historical photographs of hippopotamuses are shown. The top image depicts several East African hippopotamuses partially submerged in the Tana River near Fort Hall, surrounded by natural riverbank vegetation. The bottom image shows a four-year-old female Nile hippopotamus standing on grass inside an enclosure at the National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., with metal bars visible in the background. Both images highlight different habitats and conditions of these large, barrel-bodied aquatic mammals with thick skin. The illustrations originate from a 1914 publication documenting African game animals.

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🐊 Das Skelet der Krokodilinen: . Wien: W. Braumüller, 1862.. Original source Image description: Historical anatomical illustration titled "Das Skelet der Krokodilinen" from 1862, depicting detailed black-and-white line drawings of various crocodile vertebrae and pelvic bones. The plate includes multiple labeled views of individual bones and segments, such as dorsal and lateral perspectives, with scientific annotations identifying specific bone structures. The drawings showcase intricate contours and articulations of the crocodile's skeletal framework, emphasizing vertebral processes and pelvic girdle morphology. The top and bottom of the illustration contain printed text including scientific terms and figure numbers, indicating detailed osteological study of crocodile anatomy by Prof. Brühl.

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🍎 Bird-life: a guide to the study of our common birds New York: D. Appleton and company, 1897. Original source Image description: Black and white historical illustration from an 1897 bird guide depicting two vireos perched on leafy branches, possibly of an apple tree. One bird looks downward from an elevated branch while the other looks upward from a lower branch. The birds have detailed feather patterns, including striped wings. Text below identifies them as Red-eyed Vireo and Yellow-throated Vireo, with descriptions of their size and coloration. The scene emphasizes the natural habitat and physical features of these common birds.

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🐦 Compléments de Buffon Paris: P. Pourrat Frères, 1838. Original source Image description: Illustration from 1838 titled "Compléments de Buffon" depicting a black cockatoo perched on a textured tree branch. The bird features detailed dark feathers, a prominent curved beak, and a distinctive long, wispy crest extending backward from its head. The cockatoo's pale facial patch contrasts with its dark plumage. The lower text identifies the species as "Microglossum nigerrimum" and credits the publisher, P. Pourrat Frères, Paris. The image emphasizes the bird's anatomical features with fine, precise lines typical of historical naturalist engravings.

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🐼 Spicilegia zoologica Berolini: Prostant apud Gottl. August. Lange, 1767-1780. Original source Image description: Engraved historical illustration of a large mammal resembling a hippopotamus, standing on grassy terrain. The animal has a robust, rounded body covered with detailed fur texture, short legs, small ears, and prominent curved tusks on its upper jaw. In the background, there is a hut surrounded by sparse vegetation and trees under a sky with light clouds. Two sketches of the animal’s skull and tusks are shown in the lower left corner. The illustration is framed with text indicating its source and plate number, reflecting an 18th-century zoological study.