Natural History Cabinet

Resource added
A wooden box with sliding lid for Wallis’s Elegant Present of Natural History, with a 5 volume set of books: 1. Beasts, 2. Birds, 3. Fishes, 4. Insects, 5. Flowers. Held at Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, QH48 .W214, copy 1.

Full description

The cabinet consists of a wooden box with sliding lid and five miniature books. The cabinet lid shows an elephant and peacock arranged around the title, while the scalloped pattern on top makes the cabinet resemble a miniature piece of furniture. As shown in the sample spread of “The Magpie Moth” and “The Tiger Moth,” each volume in the series explains one animal or plant per page using black and white engraved illustrations, followed by descriptive sentences underneath, together calculated to help users with identification.

  • type
    Image
  • created on
  • file format
    jpg
  • file size
    776 KB
  • container title
    Wallis’s Elegant Present of Natural History (London: John Wallis, 1801).
  • credit
    Courtesy of Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
  • rights
    Public Domain