First Principles: Tracing developments in European Zoology

First Principles

Tracing developments in European zoology through 18th-20th Century illustrations of animals

Humans have always studied animals. Even the earliest cave paintings show their animal subjects with detail and care any zoologist would find kinship with. The Leeds Library has dozens of European natural sciences texts from throughout the 18th-20th Centuries - many of them carefully illustrated.

These images show more than just the creatures they depict, though. A careful reader can trace developments in zoology through the way illustrations of animals change over time. With the help of just a fraction of the Library’s historic natural sciences book collection, we will do just that!

This exhibition will contain images of spiders and animals in scientific experiments.

New Lands, New Details

We begin our journey in the 18th Century, when the Library was founded. Widespread interest in zoological illustrations grew exponentially throughout the 1700s. This was largely thanks to reports of the sheer scale of Earth’s biodiversity from exploratory or colonial trips in the Age of Exploration. New scientific societies were founded, and studying domestic and foreign life became a popular pastime for a European gentleman.

Additionally, the development and perfection of copperplate engraving printing techniques during this period allowed for new levels of artistic detail - as you can see in the details of 18th Century zoologist August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof’s tiny spiders!

An etched portrait of Rosen from his book. He is a middle-aged white man wearing an 18th Century suit and a powdered, curled wig held back with a ribbon.

Inspired by Maria Sibylla Merian’s rich illustrations and descriptions of insects in the late 1600s, Rösel (left) published three zoological works in total. The insect illustrations here and above are from the Library’s copy of his first, a 1749 four-volume classification of hundreds of invertebrates full of his own beautiful illustrations in full colour.

A page from Rosen's book, showing four different types of butterflies. They are all in vibrant colour, and the patterns on their wings are shown in detail.

A page from Rosen's book. It shows the life cycle of a brown moth, from egg to caterpillar to cocoon to adult moth.

A detailed illustration of one of the microscopes George Adams designed, from his book. He named this one a Camera Obscura Microscope, and it consists of a large circular lens encased in a lamp-shade like metal structure on a sturdy stand.

Mini-beasts and Microscopes

The first prototype microscopes were made in the 1590s, in the Netherlands. However, it wasn’t until the early 1700s that scientists and engineers like Dutchman Antony Van Leeuwenhoek started to develop lenses powerful enough to see into the world of microbiology. This new technology also led to a flood of discoveries (and books!) about the truly tiny details of the animals around us.

The microscope on the left here and the pages below are taken from the Library’s 1771 copy of ‘Micrographia Illustrata; or, The Microscope Explained’ by British inventor George Adams. It’s a perfect example of how advancing microscope technology led to advancements in zoology. Adams combines an explanation of his new microscope with what he calls ‘a natural history of [...] microscopic objects’. Careful drawings of insect parts, frog organs, and more line the pages - grisly, but fascinating!

A detailed illustration of a dead frog and fish tied to small metal tables so their circulatory systems can be examined under a microscope. From George Adams's book.

Equipment used to examine circulatory systems

A detailed illustration of the microscope George Adams designed, from his book. It consists of an eyeglass piece, a cross-shapes metal scope, and a lens held underneath.

George Adams’s Microscope design

A page of detailed illustrations of a White Feathered Winged moth, with two full-body illustration of the insect and close-up drawings of parts of its anatomy viewed via a microscope in between. From Adams's book.

Examinations of a White Feathered Winged Moth

Exploring the hundred-acre field

It would be difficult to talk about Victorian zoological illustrations without bumping into Charles Darwin. His 1831-1836 voyage on the HMS Beagle was hugely influential over his eventual theory of evolution, and enabled the introduction of many new animals to European eyes. Reflecting on his university biology lectures in 1860, Darwin said:

It strikes me that all our knowledge about the [...] Earth is very much like what an old hen would know of the hundred-acre field in a corner of which she is scratching.

- Charles Darwin

A full-colour illustration of a Tanagara Darwinii bird resting on the branch of a tree. The bird has a black and golden-yellow body with a blue head and inquisitive eyes. A 'The Leeds Library' stamp is on the page next to it.

Darwin was not the only 19th Century scientist to share this sentiment. In fact, his voyage around the hundred-acre field was part of a trend of European naturalists sailing around the globe on the trail of knowledge. As much is evident in the books they published upon return, packed full of observations and lush, detailed illustrations made from life (and taxidermied samples!).

Darwin, of course, had his own version of these books. His is a five-volume epic published between 1832-1843, charting dozens of animals from all over the world. Some he even named after himself - like this bird, shown in Vol. III (aptly named ‘Birds’, co-authored with John Gould): Tanagara Darwinii.

A diagram of a cat's skull from Mivart's The Cat.

Going Into Detail

Richly-coloured illustrations of far-flung new species weren’t the only depictions of animals popular during the Victorian period, though. Detailed discussions of anatomies benefited from the expansion of the reading public, with accompanying illustrations of dissections and skeletons “so realistic that they can be compared with contemporary photographs” (Esther van Praag, 2020).

These detailed skeletal drawings, from the Library’s copy of John Mivart’s 1881 book ‘The Cat: An introduction to the study of backboned animals’, are a good example. Mivart explores everything from bone density to length of intestinal tract, and covers cats from all over the world - from domestic to a now-extinct American Cheetah.

A two-page spread from Mivart's The Cat. The first page shows a black and white illustration of a spotted leopard catching a small fish from a stream. Underneath is a diagram of the cat's skull. On the other page is a diagram of another cat's skull.

Pages from ‘The Cat’, showing its variety of illustration styles

Through the Lens

Though cameras were in use throughout the 19th Century, the invention of the gelatin dry-plate and celluloid film between 1870-1890 made them small and portable enough for wildlife photography. National Geographic featured its first wildlife photographs in 1906, inspired by the Kearton brothers’ photographs of Yorkshire wildlife in the 1890s. As the 20th Century progressed, animal photography overtook its illustrated counterpart - but illustrations didn’t vanish, as these pages from Leonard Matthews’s 1952 book ‘British Mammals’ indicate.

Here, the drawings are simpler than their ancestors - purely to illustrate facts - while photography takes on the role of showing what the animal looks like in its environment.

We have covered just a fraction of the Library‘s natural history collection - but even in these five texts, the impact of progressing technology is palpable and extreme. Even now, this continues to be true. Huge strides in film camera technology have meant that zoologists like David Attenborough have made their science more accessible than ever. The levels of detail modern microscopes would astonish the likes of August Rösel and George Adams.

The Library is still collecting natural history books, and these books are still records of developments in their scientific subjects. Whatever the future of zoology holds, we will be able to see them in books - hopefully for many years to come!

With Thanks To:

Exhibition: Finnian Davies and Niimi Day Gough

Digital: Niimi Day Gough

See more exhibitions from The Library here

Bibliography:

Images:

August Johann Rösel van Rosenhof, ‘Der monatlich-herausgegebenen : Insecten-Belustigung, Nuremberg’ (Nuernberg: Roesel, 1749), George Adams, ‘Micrographia Illustrata: or the Microscope Explained’ - 4th edn. (London: George Adams, 1771), Charles Darwin & John Gould, ‘The Zoology of The Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle’ - ‘Part III: Birds’ (London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1841), George Mivart, ‘The Cat: An introduction to the study of backboned animals (especially mammals)’ (London: John Murray, 1881), L. Harrison Matthews, ‘The New Naturalist British Mammals’ (London: Collins, 1952).

Information:

Clara Sue Ball, ‘The Early History of the Compound Microscope‘, in Bios: Vol. 37, No. 2 (1966), Matthew Wills, ‘The Evolution of the Microscope‘, Online: JStor Daily (2018), Esther van Praag, ‘History of Veterinary Illustration and Photography‘, in Photography in Clinical Medicine (2020), Alison Pearn, ‘Darwin’s first - and only - trip around the world began a scientific revolution’ Online: National Geographic (2020), Peter Raby, ‘Bright Paradise: Victorian Scientific Travellers‘ (London: Penguin Random House, 2012), Kerry Lotzof, ‘Nature on our doorstep: the art of British natural history‘ Online: Natural History Museum (2017), Thomas Gregory, ‘The First Camera Ever Made: A History of Cameras Online: History Cooperative (2024).