Biodiversity Heritage Library: Millions of Historical Natural History Illustrations, Free to Use

The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is one of the most extraordinary free resources available for artists, illustrators, and designers who work with botanical and zoological subjects, providing free access to millions of pages of historical natural history literature including some of the most beautiful and scientifically significant illustrations ever produced. A consortium of natural history museums, botanical gardens, and research institutions, BHL has digitised its collective holdings of historical natural history publications and made them freely available online, creating a resource of unparalleled richness for anyone who works with natural history subjects.

The library's holdings span more than five centuries of natural history publishing, from the earliest printed herbals of the fifteenth century through the great illustrated natural history publications of the nineteenth century. The illustrations in these publications represent the work of some of the most accomplished botanical and zoological illustrators in history, including artists who worked for the great natural history expeditions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and who produced images of extraordinary beauty and scientific accuracy.

The Botanical Illustration Collection

Botanical illustrations are the most celebrated category in the BHL collection, with millions of images documenting the extraordinary diversity of plant life from every part of the world. The botanical illustrations range from the woodcuts of early printed herbals through the hand-coloured engravings of the eighteenth century and the chromolithographs of the nineteenth century, representing the full range of botanical illustration techniques and styles across five centuries of natural history publishing.

The Curtis's Botanical Magazine is one of the most important sources of botanical illustrations in the BHL collection, with more than 200 years of continuous publication providing an extraordinary record of botanical illustration from 1787 through the present day. The Botanical Magazine illustrations are among the most beautiful and technically accomplished botanical illustrations ever produced, with hand-coloured engravings and later chromolithographs that document the full range of cultivated and wild plants from around the world.

The Redouté illustrations are among the most celebrated in the collection, with Pierre-Joseph Redouté's extraordinary stipple engravings of roses, lilies, and other flowers representing the pinnacle of botanical illustration as a fine art. Redouté's illustrations combine scientific accuracy with an aesthetic sensibility that makes them genuinely beautiful as works of art, and they continue to be among the most admired and widely reproduced botanical illustrations ever produced.

The expedition illustrations document the plants collected by the great natural history expeditions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including the voyages of Captain Cook, the Beagle expedition, and many other scientific voyages that brought back specimens and illustrations from previously unknown parts of the world. These expedition illustrations are particularly valuable for artists who work with exotic or unusual plant subjects, providing detailed documentation of plants that are not easily found in other sources.

The Zoological Illustration Collection

Zoological illustrations are another important category in the BHL collection, with millions of images documenting the extraordinary diversity of animal life from every part of the world. The zoological illustrations range from the woodcuts of early natural history publications through the hand-coloured engravings and lithographs of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, representing the full range of zoological illustration techniques and styles.

The Audubon illustrations are among the most celebrated in the collection, with John James Audubon's extraordinary life-size illustrations of North American birds representing one of the greatest achievements in the history of natural history illustration. Audubon's illustrations combine scientific accuracy with a dramatic, painterly quality that makes them genuinely extraordinary as works of art, and they continue to be among the most admired and widely reproduced natural history illustrations ever produced.

The Gould illustrations document the birds and mammals of Australia, New Guinea, and other parts of the world, with John Gould's extraordinary lithographs providing detailed documentation of species that were largely unknown to European science before his expeditions. The Gould illustrations are particularly valuable for artists who work with Australian or Pacific subjects, providing detailed documentation of the specific appearance of birds and mammals from these regions.

The Scientific Illustration Techniques

The historical natural history illustrations in the BHL collection represent the full range of scientific illustration techniques used across five centuries of natural history publishing, from the woodcuts of early printed herbals through the hand-coloured engravings, aquatints, and lithographs of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Studying these illustrations provides insight into the specific techniques used by historical scientific illustrators and the specific approaches to representing natural subjects with both scientific accuracy and aesthetic appeal.

The hand-colouring techniques used in many of the eighteenth and nineteenth-century illustrations are particularly interesting from an artistic perspective, with skilled colourists applying watercolour washes to printed outlines to create the characteristic appearance of hand-coloured natural history plates. The specific colour choices and application techniques used in these illustrations reflect both the scientific requirements of accurate colour representation and the aesthetic sensibilities of the period.

Practical Uses for Artists

For botanical illustrators who work in the tradition of scientific botanical illustration, the BHL collection provides an extraordinary range of historical reference material covering the full range of botanical illustration techniques and styles. The ability to study the specific approaches of historical botanical illustrators in high resolution is genuinely valuable for contemporary botanical illustrators who want to understand the tradition they are working in.

For illustrators and designers who work with natural history subjects, the BHL collection provides an extraordinary range of reference material covering the specific appearance of plants and animals from every part of the world. The breadth and depth of the collection means that reference material for virtually any natural history subject can be found within it.

The Bottom Line

The Biodiversity Heritage Library is one of the most extraordinary free resources available for artists, illustrators, and designers who work with botanical and zoological subjects, providing access to millions of historical natural history illustrations from five centuries of natural history publishing. For botanical illustrators, natural history artists, and designers who work with natural history subjects, the BHL is an essential and genuinely irreplaceable resource.