Sir William Jardine (1800-1874) was a key figure in the history of Victorian science. He owned the finest private natural history museum and library in Britain and made the study of natural history widely available by editing and issuing The Naturalist's Library in forty small, well illustrated, and relatively affordable volumes. Naturalist's Library is a monument to Victorian industry and zeal for natural history education.

On account of the high-quality hand-coloured illustrations, it is seldom found complete The work is divided into four main sections: Ornithlogy, Mammalia, Entomology and Ichthyology; each was prepared by a leading naturalist. Among the artists who contributed to this massive work was Edwar Lear.