THE WALRUS OR SEA HORSE print

These beautiful walrus and seal steel engravings, with superb original handcolouring, are from the Mammalia section of Sir William Jardine’s “Naturalist’s Library,” a monumental work consisting of forty volumes printed in Edinburgh and London, between 1833 and 1843.

This comprehensive, affordable and intelligent venture proved so popular that it was reissued in various formats throughout the century.

In 1835, and only a quarter of the way through publishing the series, the eminent Edinburgh engraver and printer, W. H. Lizars wrote,

“We have sold upwards of sixty thousand volumes, in which there have been nearly two million four hundred thousand plates.”

Today, these exquisite marine life engravings are seen as some of the very finest Natural History miniatures ever produced, and look superb framed in sets of two, three or four.

(Ref: Sir William Jardine, A Life in Natural History by Jackson & Davis, 2001; Dean, Bibli. of Fishes, Vol.1, 1972, p. 630)