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Sarah Finn

@romanceofbooks.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1.6K following 535 posts

Special Collections Librarian / Print Historian Fascinated by the history of scientific illustration. Documenting natural history books I encounter in my research 📚🦋

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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 17h
Seaweed specimens arranged in shapes from ‘Lose Blätter der Flora aus Adria’s Tiefen,’ [Loose leaves of the Flora from the depth of the Adriatic Sea], 1887. The portfolio includes 12 plates with 100 specimens of seaweed. University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Special Collections. #seaweed #herbarium
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Thistle from ‘Les fleurs animées’ or ‘The Flowers Personified,’ illustrated by French caricaturist J. J. Grandville (pseudonym of Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard, 1803-1847). The book was first published in 1847, but this is a later 1867 edition published in Paris by Garnier Frères.
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Cucurbita pepo from ‘Pharmaceutisch-medicinische Botanik’ by Daniel Wagner, published in Vienna by Ferdinand Ullrich in 1828. Milwaukee Public Library Rare Books Collection. #botanicalart #scientificillustration #scienceart #Cucurbitapepo #naturalhistory
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Hand-colored engravings of insects from ‘Der monathlich-herausgegebenen Insecten-Belustigung’ by August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof. Published in Nuremberg, 1746-1761. University of Wisconsin-Madison Special Collections. #insectart #sciart
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Title page of the book ‘Der monathlich-herausgegebenen Insecten-Belustigung’ by August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof. Published in Nuremberg, 1746-1761. University of Wisconsin-Madison Special Collections. #naturalhistory #insectart #bookhistory #rarebooks
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Bat 🦇 and its skeleton from ‘Angenehmer und nützlicher Zeit-vertreib mit Betrachtung curioser Vorstellungen allerhand kriechender, fliegender und schwimmender’ by Johann Daniel Meyer. Nürnberg: J.J. Fleischmann, 1748-56. University of Chicago. #naturalhistory
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Squash from ‘Agriculture of New York’ by Ebenezer Emmons, Volume III, 1851. Illustration by Frederick J. Swinton. Lithographed by Richard H. Pease. American Geographical Society Library. #naturalhistory #botanicalart
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Moths and butterflies from ‘Zoologischer Hand-Atlas zum Schulgebrauch und Selbstunterricht’ by German Zoologist Hermann Burmeister. Second edition. Published in Berlin, Druck und Verlag von Georg Reimer, 1860. From my personal collection 📚🦋 #sciart #naturalhistory #insectart
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Pond slider from ‘Tortoises, Terrapins, and Turtles Drawn from Life’ by James de Carle Sowerby and Edward Lear. London, Paris, and Frankfort: H. Sotheran, J. Baer & co., 1872. University of Chicago Special Collections. #naturalhistory #animalart #turtles
Hand colored lithograph of a brown, black, and yellow pond slider turtle. 

In the introduction John Edward Gray wrote that the illustrations were from the pencil of James Sowerby, lithographed by Edward Lear, and coloured “so as to form the most perfect facsimiles of the drawings” by Mr. Bayfield.
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Book cover and wood engravings from 'The People's Practical Poultry Book' by William M. Lewis. New York: D.D.T. Moore, 1871. #PublishersBinding #BirdArt #NaturalHistory #VintageBookCovers #AnimalArt
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Roses 🌹🥀 from ‘Fragmenta botanica, figuris coloratis illustrata’ by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin. Viennae, Austriae: Typis Mathiae Andreae Schmidt, typogr. Universit., 1809. UW-Madison Special Collections. #naturalhistory #botanicalart #flowerillustration #roseart
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Illustration from "The Smiling Book" by Lu Wheat with illustrations by Sotarō Suzuki and published by T. Hasegawa in 1897. Color woodblock illustrations on double leaves of crepe paper in Japanese style binding (fukuro toji). UW-Milwaukee Special Collections. #bookhistory #naturalhistory
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Lithobates pipiens formerly Rana pipiens, commonly known as the northern leopard frog. Lithograph from John Edwards Holbrook’s “North American Herpetology; or, A Description of the Reptiles Inhabiting the United States” published in Philadelphia by J. Dobson, 1842. UW-Madison Special Collections.
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Grasshopper by Karl Bodmer from 'Nature at Home' by Theophile Gautier. London: Bradbury, 1883. Excerpt of a poem by John Keats: "On the Grasshopper and Cricket.” #JohnKeats #Grasshopper #InsectArt
Delicate illustration of a grasshopper surrounded by tall grass. In the center is an excerpt of a poem by John Keats: 

"On the Grasshopper and Cricket"

The Poetry of earth is never dead:
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
That is the Grasshopper’s
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Amphibian illustrations from ‘Abbildungen zu Oken’s Allgemeiner Naturgeschichte für alle Stände’ by Lorenz Oken. Stuttgart: Hoffmann, 1843. University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Special Collections. #naturalhistory #Amphibians #Salamanders #animalart
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Amanita rubescens (the blushing amanita). ‘Les champignons comestibles et les espèces vénéneuses avec lesquelles ils pourrait être confondus’ by Fritz Leuba. Neuchatel: Delachaux & Niestlé, [1906]. University of Chicago, Crerar Library. #chromolithograph #naturalhistory #mushroomart #mycology
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Tarsier by Jean Baptiste Audebert. Stipple engraving inked à la poupée with hand coloring. ‘Histoire Naturelle des Singes et des Makis.’ Paris: Desray, 1800. University of Chicago Special Collections. #naturalhistory #Tarsier #AnimalArt
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Chromolithograph from ‘Reports on Observations of the Total Eclipse of the Sun, August 7, 1869, conducted under the direction of Commodore B. F. Sands, U.S. N., Washington, 1870. #Solareclipse #naturalhistory #naturalhistoryillustration #scientificillustration #chromolithograph
The Corona of the Total Eclipse on August 7, 1869, as seen by the aid of a four inch telescope.
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Flowers from ‘Bilder zum Anschauungs-Unterricht für die Jugend: Bestehend in vaterländ. Gegenständen, nach der Natur u. den besten Originalen.’ Esslingen: J .F. Schreiber’s lithographischer Anstalt, 1835. University of Wisconsin-Madison Special Collections. #naturalhistory #botanicalart #flowers
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Insects arranged by color from “Betrachtungen über die Farbenpracht der Insekten” by Carl Brunner von Wattenwyl. Published by Wilhelm Engelmann in Leipzig, 1897. #naturalhistory #chromolithography #insectart #sciart
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Black Prince grapes from William Hooker’s ‘Pomona Londinensis: Containing Colored Engravings of the Most Esteemed Fruits Cultivated in the British Gardens,’ Vol. I. London, 1818. UW-Madison Special Collections. #botanicalart #scientificillustration #fruitart
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
My first article was published in the Archives of Natural History! It is about The Naturalist’s Library, a popular forty-volume book series published in Edinburgh from 1833-1843 by William Home Lizars and Sir William Jardine. @sochistnathist.bsky.social
Cover of the recent issue of Archives of Natural History. Phlox flowers in the background. Two original watercolours by James Hope Stewart (1789 –1856) that were the basis for steel engravings for The Naturalist’s Library. Top: ‘Glossy Ibis’ (Plegadis falcinellus). Bottom: ‘Kingfisher’ (Alcedo atthis).

From the Library and Archives, Natural History Museum, London

@nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.socialhttps://doi.org/10.3366/anh.2026.1031
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
‘Les fleurs animées’ or ‘The Flowers Personified,’ illustrated by French caricaturist J. J. Grandville (pseudonym of Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard, 1803-1847). The book was first published in 1847, but this is a later 1867 edition published in Paris by Garnier Frères. #botanicalillustration #rarebooks
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Toco toucan by Jacques Barraband for ‘Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis et des rolliers, suivie de celle des toucans et des barbus’ by François Levaillant. Paris: Chez Denné le jeune, 1806. University of Chicago Special Collections. #JacquesBarraband #sciart #Tocotoucan #naturalhistory
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Sharks from 'A History of the Fishes of the British Islands' by Jonathan Couch. London : Groombridge and Sons, 1867-1868. #JonathanCouch #NaturalHistory #FishArt #Sharks #SharkWeek
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Book cover of ‘The Breeds of Live Stock, and the Principles of Heredity’ by J. H. Sanders. Chicago : J.H. Sanders Pub. Co., 1887. #PublishersBinding #NaturalHistory #BookCover
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Wood engravings of animals from ‘The Breeds of Live Stock, and the Principles of Heredity’ by J. H. Sanders. Chicago : J.H. Sanders Pub. Co., 1887. #AnimalArt #NaturalHistory #WoodEngraving #AnimalIllustration
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Publishers’ binding of ‘The Ladies' Flower-Garden of Ornamental Greenhouse Plants’ by Jane Loudon. Published in London by William S. Orr & Co., 1849. UW-Madison Special Collections @uwmadspec. #JaneLoudon #hernaturalhistory #botanicalart #publishersbinding
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Botanical illustrations from ‘The Ladies' Flower-Garden of Ornamental Greenhouse Plants’ by Jane Loudon. Published in London by William S. Orr & Co., 1849. UW-Madison Special Collections @uwmadspec. #JaneLoudon #hernaturalhistory #botanicalart #flowers
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Butterflies and moths from ‘American card album’ manufactured by L. Prang & Co. Boston, Mass. patented April 5th, 1864. I saw this beautiful album at Boston Athenæum. #naturalhistory #PrangCompany #butterflyart #insectart
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
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
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
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
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
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
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
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
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
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
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
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
Hand colored copperplate engraving of a gibbon. The long armed ape is holding a fruit and has a sad expression on its face.
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
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
Watercolor painting of insects on laid paper from the 18th century. The image includes over a dozen insects big and small, primarily moths and butterflies, but also the peanut-headed lanternfly. There is a signature in the bottom left, 'Bresillac, pinx. 1784.' The painting is based on the work of August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof. It is from an album called 'Collection de fleurs, d’oiseaux d’insectes.’ Drawn and colored by various students of the Royal School of Sorèze. Manuscript, 1783-1789. It is held by Harvard’s Houghton Library.
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
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
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
'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
Highly ornate book cover with a tan patent leather binding and green and blue border decoration. The title “Exotic Birds” is spelled out with iridescent mother of pearl inlay. Title page for “The Book of Exotic Birds.” The lettering and ornamentation is printed in shiny gold ink and the border has small yellow and green birds fluttering about. 

Ornamental borders designed by Henry Noel Humpherys.
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
‘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
Chromolithograph of a black and red bird posed on a branch with green leaves. Scarlet minivet (Pericrocotus speciosus). Chromolithograph of. Black and yellow bird with grass and flowers in the background. There is a gold ornate border around the image. Regent bowerbird (Sericulus chrysocephalus). Chromolithograph image of a small blue and black bird perched on a branch with pink flowers. Superb Fairywren (Malurus cyaneus).
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
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
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
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
19th century book with a dark green cover and the words “Sea Weeds” in gold lettering on the front. The book is placed carefully in an archival box with tissue paper. Brown paper with four white cards pasted on top. Each card has a small pressed seaweed specimen. They are in shades of reddish brown and marroon. Light tan paper with three white cards pasted on top. Each card has a pressed green seaweed specimen. Open page in a seaweed herbarium album. The paper is tan with a white rectangle pasted on top. Inside the rectangle is a large pressed pink seaweed specimen. The opposite page is a bright blue paper.
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
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
Presentation featuring the book ‘The Geographical Distribution of Animals’ by Alfred Russel Wallace, 1876.Book cover and wood engraving illustration from ‘The Bird’ by Jules Michelet. New York, 1869. Illustrations by M. Hector Giacomelli.‘Alphabet des insectes’ with illustrations by Léon Becker that were engraved by Fortuné Méaulle. Paris by J. Hetzel & cie, 1883.
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
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
Ulysses butterfly (Papilio ulysses), also known as a Blue Emperor butterfly. Book illustration depicting two butterflies on the page. One with its vibrant blue wings spread open. The other with its wings closed, you can only see one side of the wing and it’s mostly brown with orange and blue stripes along the edge.
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
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.
Hand Colored engraving of a hedgehog and its skeleton.Illustration found in the book 'Angenehmer und nützlicher Zeit-vertreib mit Betrachtung curioser Vorstellungen allerhand kriechender, fliegender und schwimmender, auf dem Land und im Wasser sich befindender und nährender Thiere, sowohl nach ihrer Gestalt und äusserlichen Beschaffenhe'
by Johann Daniel Meyer.' Nürnberg: gedruckt bey J.J. Fleischmann, 1748-56.Close up of the face of a disgruntled hedgehog. Close up of hedgehog skeleton.
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
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.
Hand colored engraving of seven sea urchin tests or spherical shells. They are colored in muted red, gold, green, and brown.
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
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
Book illustration of a Primula auricula plant with black and white flowers. A purple and yellow butterfly floats above the blooms.
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
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
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Chromolithograph of Sri Lanka from ‘Pflanzenleben’ by Anton Kerner Von Marilaun, 1913. Artist is Ernst Friedrich Heyn. #chromolithograph #naturalhistory #Pflanzenleben #ErnstFriedrichHeyn
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Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
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
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