America & Germany · 19th c.
Natural History
Audubon folding a life-size flamingo to fit his enormous page; Haeckel proving that nature is itself an artist, his jellyfish hung in the dark like chandeliers. Rigorous observation tipped into the sublime.
American Flamingo
Audubon’s flamingo, bowed to fit the page.
Jellyfish — Discomedusae
The hidden symmetry of the deep, drawn by a scientist.
Snowy Owl
Two white owls on a crag, under a night sky.
Sea Anemones
Actiniae — Haeckel’s most riotous plate of colour.
Hummingbirds
Trochilidae — iridescence, catalogued.
Orchids
Orchidae — flowers that look like insects, drawn like architecture.
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Wild Turkey
Plate One of the greatest bird book ever made.
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Carolina Parakeet
A lost bird, kept alive on the page.
Radiolaria
Single-celled sea life, built like cathedral glass.
Sea Slugs — Nudibranchia
The most flamboyant colour in the sea, catalogued.
Rosa Centifolia
The cabbage rose, by the greatest botanical painter who ever lived.
Banana Flower with Insects
The book that first showed how a caterpillar becomes a moth.
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Hummingbirds
Gould’s jewels — iridescence printed in gold leaf.