HE NATURE LIBRARY 



is the only group of books on natural 

 history that gives scientifically accu- 

 rate information in simple, narrative style, and 

 in a way that makes it equally available for stu- 

 dious reference or casual entertainment. 



It represents the first attempt made to illus- 

 trate a work of such magnitude and importance 

 with direct photographic reproductions of living 

 subjects of the animal, bird, fish, insect, and 

 floral worlds in their native conditions. Addi- 

 tional to this photographic literalness, the fidel- 

 ity to nature has been greatly heightened by 

 color plates, which are so perfectly treated that 

 the exact tint or tone of the living original is 

 preserved through all the varieties of color. 

 Thus the identification of any bird, flower, 

 moth, etc., is easy, and its classification becomes 

 a matter of the utmost simplicity, an advantage 

 of inestimable value to the student or general 

 lover of nature hitherto perplexed and discour- 

 aged by old-fashioned so-called " keys." 



This is the first time a systematic effort has 

 been made to bring the reader into an intimate 

 knowledge, free from fanciful invention, of the 

 home life of our brethren of the lower world. 

 The difficulties of photographing wild animals in 

 their native environment, birds on their nests, 

 and timid creatures in their hidings, are some- 

 times insuperable ; but the success that rewarded 

 the fatigues and hardships of the makers of THE 

 NATURE LIBRARY, and which is attested through- 

 out the pages of the ten beautiful volumes, makes 

 this set of books not only unrivaled, but abso- 

 lutely unique in the field. 



Besides the 450 half-tones from photographs 

 taken especially for this work in all regions of 

 the country, and the 300 extraordinary and 

 remarkably lifelike color plates, there are about 

 1,500 text-cuts, such as are usually regarded as 

 all-sufficient illustrations of theses on natural 

 history. 



In the actual value of the pictorial matter, the 

 purchaser gets more than the price of the ten 

 volumes : and yet the information, charmingly, 

 familiarly presented in the 4,000 pages, is a 

 treasury from which the most careless reader 

 may extract a sort of riches he would not will- 

 ingly lose again. 



But THE NATURE LIBRARY is not having care- 

 less readers. One point more frequentlv em- 

 phasized than any other by those who write in 

 voluntary acknowledgment of their satisfaction 

 with the purchase is the "entertaining " quality 

 of the books. 



Entertaining they most unquestionably are- 

 entertaining to old and young alike ; and that 

 was the great object aimed at by the makers 

 of THE NATURE LIBRARY, who believe 

 that the secret of all education is to 

 make instruction entertaining and 

 inspiring. We believe nothing 

 better suited to the double pur- 

 pose than these ten hand- 

 some ani beautifully il- 

 lustrated books has ^ - ^ sy , 



i ^*~ x ^ "' 



been offered to the 



public in manv 



