Raccoon from 'Travels into North America; containing its natural history…' by the Finnish-Swedish botanist and explorer Peter Kalm, and translated into English by John Reinhold Forster. London, printed for T. Lowndes, 1772. #Jimothy #animalart #naturalhistory #sciart

Beetles from French artist E. A. Séguy’s “Insectes” portfolio of pochoir prints, published in 1929. Pochoir is a labor intensive process where each color is applied through a stencil. Séguy’s prints require many different layers. #EASéguy #pochoir #naturalhistory #scienceart #insectart

Tourmaline from 'Gems and Precious Stones of North America' by George Frederick Kunz, published by The Scientific Publishing Company of New York, 1892. #naturalhistory #scienceart #mineralart #Tourmaline #chromolithography

European green woodpecker (Picus viridis) by Ambrosius Gabler from ‘Naturgeschichte der Vögel Deutschlands in getreuen Abbildungen und Beschreibungen’ by Johann Wolf. Nürnberg: Frauenholz, 1805. University of Chicago. #naturalhistory #birdart #Europeangreenwoodpecker #Picusviridis

Canna indica from Robert Thornton’s “Temple of Flora” in his book “A New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus.” Published in London in 1807. UW-Madison Special Collections. #TheTempleofFlora #naturalhistory #botanicalart #Cannaindica

Gibbon by Charles Reuben Ryley from ‘Musei Leveriani explicatio, anglica et latina’ by George Shaw. London, Impensis Jacobi Parkinson, 1792-1796. Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. #NaturalHistory #Gibbon #AnimalArt

Painting of insects by Bresillac based on the work of August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof from the album ‘Collection de fleurs, d’oiseaux d’insectes.’ Drawn and colored by various students of the Royal School of Sorèze. Manuscript, 1783-1789. Harvard Houghton Library. #naturalhistory #insects

Irises from the expanded edition of ‘Florilegium renovatum et auctum’ by Johann Theodor de Bry. Published in Frankfurt by Matthaeus Merian the elder, 1641. I saw this at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation. #naturalhistory #irises #iris #BotanicalArt

'The Book of Exotic Birds: A Series of Richly Colored Plates, Accompanied by Descriptions. London: Paul Jerrard, 1852. The book was bound in what Paul Jerrard called "patent porcelain binding." The lettering is mother-of-pearl inlay. UW-Madison Special Collections. #bookhistory #bookbinding

‘The Book of Exotic Birds: A Series of Richly Colored Plates, Accompanied by Descriptions.’ London: Paul Jerrard, 111 Fleet Street, 1852. UW-Madison Special Collections. #naturalhistory #birdart #chromolithograph

Crustaceans from Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst’s ‘Versuch Einer Naturgeschichte der Krabben und Krebse Nebst Eiener Systematischen Beschreibung Ihrer Verschiedenen Arten.’ Zürich: Berlin: J.C. Fuessley; G.A. Lange, 1782. University of Chicago Special Collections. #naturalhistory #animalart

An album of over 200 pressed seaweeds arranged by an anonymous Victorian collector. A transcribed poem is pasted as title page, it begins: “Oh call us not weeds, we are flowers of the sea.” UW-Madison Special Collections. #naturalhistory #seaweed #pressedseaweed #seaweedalbum #herbarium

On Monday June 22, 2026 I had the honor of speaking at the Wood Engravers Network conference in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. My presentation “A Survey of Natural History Wood Engravings” traced the deep connection between wood engraving and the natural world. #naturalhistory #historyofscience

Ulysses butterfly (Papilio ulysses) from ‘An Epitome of the Natural History of the Insects of India, and the Islands in the Indian Seas’ by Edward Donovan. London: Printed for the author by T. Bensley, 1800. Harvard’s Houghton Library. #naturalhistory #insectart

Hedgehog from 'Angenehmer und nützlicher Zeit-vertreib mit Betrachtung curioser Vorstellungen allerhand kriechender, fliegender und schwimmender, auf dem Land und im Wasser' by Johann Daniel Meyer. Nürnberg: gedruckt bey J.J. Fleischmann, 1748-56. University of Chicago Special Collections.

Sea urchin tests (shells) from ‘Deliciae naturae selectae: oder, Auserlesenes naturalien-cabinet, welches aus den drey reichen der natur zeight, was von curiösen liebhabern aufbehalten und gesammelt zu werden verdienet’ by Georg Wolfgang Knorr. Published in Nuremberg, 1766-67. Library of Congress.

Primula auricula from ‘Ten Lithographic Coloured Flowers with Botanical Descriptions’ drawn and coloured by a lady. Printed from the stone by R. H. Nimmo. Published in Edinburgh by David Brown, 1826. University of Wisconsin-Madison Special Collections. #hernaturalhistory #botanicalart

Jan van Kessel the Elder’s “entomological authorgraph” from 1658. The artist’s name is depicted with insects and reptiles. I saw this last year at the exhibition Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. #naturalhistory #insectart #sciart

Chromolithograph of Sri Lanka from ‘Pflanzenleben’ by Anton Kerner Von Marilaun, 1913. Artist is Ernst Friedrich Heyn. #chromolithograph #naturalhistory #Pflanzenleben #ErnstFriedrichHeyn

Anatomy of frog from ‘L’ecrevisse (anatomie et dissection): planches coloriées à feuillets découpés et superposés’ by Jules Philippe Louis Anglas, 1916. UW-Madison’s Special Collections. #foldoutanatomy #animalanatomy #naturalhistory #scientificart #sciart #rarebooks

Berries 🍓 from ‘Meyers Konversations-Lexikon.’ Leipzig: Bibliographisches institut, 1896. #naturalhistory #scientificillustration #chromolithography

Fish illustrations from Charles d’Orbigny’s ‘Dictionnaire Universel d’Histoire Naturelle’ published in Paris, 1847-1849. American Geographical Society Library. #naturalhistory #scientificillustration #fishart

American crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) from John James Audubon’s “The Birds of America; from Original Drawings,” published 1827-1830. Engraved, printed, and colored by Robert Havell. #JohnJamesAudubon #BirdsofAmerica #rarebooks #scientificillustration #Americancrow