“Cassell’s Natural History” is a multi-volume late-Victorian encyclopedic natural history of animals designed for general readers and amateur naturalists. It presents zoological knowledge of the time in clear, descriptive prose with extensive illustrations, combining facts about animal form, behaviour, habitat, and classification. Rather than opening with abstract taxonomy, the work introduces animals by describing their appearance and habits first, then situates them within broader scientific groupings. It aims to bridge zoology and comparative anatomy, explaining how internal structure relates to external form and lifestyle. The set covers major animal groups across six volumes, with contributions from several naturalists and detailed accounts of mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, and other taxa, interweaving anatomical explanation with observations of behaviour and distribution.

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010668362

The artist for this panel seems to be “C.B.,” but that’s all I’ve got for now.

The books are available on Project Gutenberg and similar sources. Here’s some more examples of the art: [Google Images Collection]

Btw, I poached this one from a great Tumblr stream. Check it out!
https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/vintage illustration

    • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      2·
      17 hours ago

      Hey, glad you saw it and liked! 😎

      It’s just a small ‘thank you’ for all the great stuff you’ve already shared. I hope to post more in time…

        • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.socialOPEnglish
          2·
          15 hours ago

          ❤️ to you too, amigo. Also, feel free to post on my Euro comics project, when & if the spirit moves you.

          I feel like it’s a fun little thing we community runners on the Fediverse can do for each other, maybe even helping solidify the FV a bit, by cross-posting.