A complete digital edition of William Jardine’s 40-volume series on natural history published 1833–1843, including more than 1,300 restored hand-drawn illustrations of birds, mammals, insects, and fish. Explore the volumes, learn more about the project, or visit the shop.

Sir William Jardine (1800–1874), a Scottish naturalist, created The Naturalist’s Library, an impressively large catalog of wildlife, to bring the wonders of the natural world into the homes of the Victorian middle class. It was intended to be a more accessible alternative to the “unwieldy folios” from other naturalists—large, expensive books detailing their journeys and sights across the globe. The Naturalist’s Library was originally published in 40 volumes in Edinburgh by his brother-in-law, W. H. Lizars, between 1833 and 1843 and was eventually systematically divided into four main sections: Ornithology (14 volumes), Mammalia (13 volumes), Entomology (7 volumes), and Ichthyology (6 volumes). Each volume contained around 30 plates of beautiful illustrations depicting a variety of wildlife paired with detailed descriptions as well as a memoir of a leading naturalist, spanning more than 2,000 years, dating back to Pliny the Elder and Aristotle.