Hand-coloured zoological illustrations for common readers: the production of The Naturalist’s Library, 1833–1843

Natural history grew in popularity in Britain among the middle class during the nineteenth century in large part due to the proliferation of cheap books and periodicals that featured illustrations of plants and animals. Prior to this period, books that featured hand-coloured plates were considered a luxury that only the very wealthy could afford. This article examines production of The Naturalist’s Library, a popular forty-volume book series published in Edinburgh from 1833–1843 by William Home Lizars (1788–1859) and Sir William Jardine (1800–1874). Each volume cost six shillings and included over thirty hand-coloured steel engravings of animals. Lizars and Jardine were able to coordinate the labour of writers, artists, engravers, printers, and colourists to cheaply produce tens of thousands of volumes during its original print run. The hand colouring of the millions of steel engravings was achieved through a team of women working at Lizars’ printing firm.