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Goldsmith's Animated Nature

Oliver Goldsmith’s “A History of the Earth and Animated Nature” was first published in 1774, and these hand-coloured plates come from its editions. The animals range from wild turkeys and curassows, falcons, hummingbirds and songbirds to camels, kangaroos, an Indian rhinoceros, seals and walruses, arctic animals and whales, exotic butterflies and beetles.

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About Goldsmith's Animated Nature

Goldsmith was an Irish writer, better known for the novel “The Vicar of Wakefield” and the comedy “She Stoops to Conquer” than for natural history. His eight-volume work on the animal world drew heavily on the French naturalist Buffon and stayed in print well into the nineteenth century.

Many plates gather related animals in a single setting. Birds take up the most space: hummingbirds, waterfowl, cranes with a stork and a heron, falcons and hawks, British songbirds and domestic fowl. Mammals follow, from weasels with a great tit in winter to kangaroos, squirrels, primates and seals on a rocky shore. Further plates show reptiles and amphibians, sea anemones, beetles, and arachnids with myriapods. Goldsmith’s plates are reproduced as giclée prints in pigment inks and made to order in Berlin, on matte 210 g/m² fine art paper or 400 g/m² cotton canvas, in sizes A4 to A0.