My curated collection of beautiful discoveries from the Biodiversity Heritage Library helps erase the winter blues and ease into spring.
The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) “operates as a worldwide consortium of natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working together” to digitize the natural history literature (more than 59 million pages) held in multiple collections from the 15th-21st centuries.
Even better, BHL makes most content freely available in the public domain. For in-copyright content, BHL works to obtain permission for use under Creative Commons licenses.
I’ve curated the following gorgeous renderings that include botanicals, mollusks, birds and a grouping of insects or two from a number of books available for downloads as PDFs or as single pages.
Relax and dig in to the craft, detail and delicacy of this work to help take you away from these difficult days and look ahead to the much-awaited spring.
1 > Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands | London 1885
From the northern islands of the Hawaiian Archipelago, this collection of 44 watercolor plates focuses on the flora from Kauai and Niihau. Delicate and bright, these interpretations give each variety a distinct personality.
2 > Vollständige Naturgeschichte der forstlichen Culturpflanzen Deutschlands | Berlin 1851
A dense, text-heavy volume, The Complete Natural History of Forestry Crops in Germany, also houses over 100 delicate watercolor plates detailing plants, leaves, berries and more, covering the German landscape in the mid-18th century. Beautiful page design overall.
3 > Belgique Horticole | Belgium 1851
The big book of The Horticultural Belgium Garden Journal represents over 60 bold color plates highlighting 38 varieties of flowering plants and 30 varieties of fruits. Luscious in design and detail.
4 > Botanische Mittheilungen aus den Tropen | Berlin 1895
This volume, Botanical Communications from the Tropics, focuses on Brazilian mushroom flowers with photos, fine etchings and this wonderful color plate – which looks like it's 3D-printed.
5 > The Naturalist's Miscellany Volume 3 | London c. 1800
George Shaw’s The Naturalist’s Miscellany series was published monthly from August 1789 through July 1813. It features engraved and beautifully hand-tinted plates – many of bird life. The installments were later compiled into 24 volumes.
6 > Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière des Céphalopodes Acétabuifères Viants, et Fossiles | Paris 1835 ~ 1838
Covering all kinds of octopi and variants, the large Natural, General and Particular History of Living Acetabuiferous Cephalopods and Fossils contains over 140 hand-tinted and black-and-white 140 plates. The elegant drawings of tentacles are gorgeous and fascinating.
7 > Delectus Animalium Articulatorum: Quae in Itinere per Brasiliam, Annis MDCCXVII-MDCCCXX | Presumed London 1830 ~ 1834
Loosely translated (it’s written in Latin), Selected Animals from Brazil Through the Years 1717-1820, is a seminal work on the natural diversity of insect life in Brazil. The varieties of Brazil had been largely inaccessible to Europeans.This field guide contains over 20 intricately detailed, watercolor renderings. Very nicely designed in page groupings.
Other curated collections I’ve posted include:
Bound to Be Beautiful | Morocco binding techniques from the Bodleian Libraries Collections
10 Vintage Illustrated Children’s Books | Early children’s book illustration from the Library of Congress
Celestial Renderings: Prints of Beauty | Cosmic renderings from the David Rumsey map Collection
Have any sources for great image collections in other digital libraries? Bring them on.
Photos: Biodiversity Heritage Library images from the digital collection are in the public domain. Top image: from Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands.
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