^^ Hnimate (Tteation, ^^^^ 



Jrtl^T'E have concluded to submit for public patronage a work with the above title, being a series 



of exquisite Engravings representing the Animal World, executed with great scientific 

 accuracy, and accompanied by full Descriptive Text, written in popular terms, so as to 

 delight and instruct the people. Anyone who has considered the subject must be at a loss to under- 

 stand why an Illustrated Natural History, comprehensive and at the same time popular, 

 has not before this been published in this country. Indeed any lover of animals who has visited the 

 great museums and zoological gardens and has had access to books of engravings in the public 

 libraries, could not fail to remark the wealth of material in existence devoted to this subject. Being 

 confirmed in our conviction of the desirability of such a work, we laid under contribution the best 

 existing autJiorities for the production of most perfect representations of all the more important 

 S "^ living creatures, and among the artists whose delineations will delight the reader, we may mention 



-^ " Harrison Weir, Wolf, Coleman, Fr. Specht, and Mutzel. By far the majority of the engravings in 



a. "^ these volumes are from drawings made from the living animals, many at the Zoological Society's 

 j£ 2 . ^ Gardens in London, England. 

 ^ "a '^ gj We purpose that our patrons shall be aided and interested in their study by such an array of 



<u 



O j= r rt -2 pictures as has never before embellished any Natural History. In numerous instances the engraving 



O c s "^ '^ '^ printed in oil-colors, and this portion of the illustrations has been taken charge of by Messrs. L. 



S o S ^.c Prang & Co., of Boston, who we believe rank foremost for high artistic results in this department of 



^ "1 ^!i ^ gj printing. These Oleographs were copied under the superintendence of Mr. Prang from the renowned 



tt> § .a-g ■- " Tafeln " of " Brehm's Thierleben," so that they may be declared perfectly reliable. 



£ S .£? S =3 We sought competent advice from various sources as to the most suitable text that should ac- 



O "> S 



g s ^ .Q company this panorama of handsome Engravings. It was found impossible to embody all the present 



^ ■" 5 " ° ideas of naturalists in a single work like this on account of the rapid advances and constant changes in 



^g ? .a So their knowledge of, and habits of thought respecting, the Animal World. And it seemed to us cor- 



O '" o "o rect that the true object of Zoology is not to arrange, to number, and to ticket animals in a formal 



5 -if "^ i - inventory, but to inquire into their life-nature, and not simply to investigate the lifeless organism. 

 _2 s E " in What do we know of " Man " from the dissecting-room ? Is it not Man, the warrior, the states- 



^ c" j; .5 -2 man, the poet, etc., that we are interested in ? With all veneration which attaches itself to those 



t* P3 S .£ 



c . _ 



:S '§• who are the accredited possessors of abstruse learning, their inordinate use of phraseology detracts 



0.S too much, we fear, from the fascination that the study of the Animal World would otherwise yield, 



"■ and as we are not content to have our work restricted to a favored few, we thought the task placed 



in our hands to be to keep the work free from a repellant vocabulary of conventional technicalities. 



•r endeavor has been to find an author whose work would be noted for its fund of anecdote and 



•' rather than for merely anatom.ical and scientific presentation, and we arrived at the conclu- 



we could not do better than avail ourselves of the Rev. J. G. Wood's comprehensive work 



ost popularly approved by speakers of the English language. It would be superfluous to 



concerning the standard character of his book, from the pages of which old and young 



' of the Atlantic have obtained so much instruction and rational amusement. Avoid- 



d dissertations and minute classifications of specialists, he presents to his readers in 



mplete treatise on the Animal Kingdom of all climes and countries. The one 



be urged against it was, that animal life in America might be treated more fully 



given more consideration. In order to obviate this drawback and to do full 



■ of our own country, we secured the aid of Dr. J. B. Holder, of the Ameri- 



' History in New York, an undoubted American authority, who has adapted 



ui^wants and given prominence to American forms of Animal life. 



on Rodentia, by Allen, Coues, and others, will be fully consulted. The 



American Birds, by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, will be the guide in the 



ite arrangement of the classification and nomenclature of North American 



d the Committee on that subject of the Ornithologists' Union, will be 



I'gement of Mammals will be after the latest classification by Professor 



Wiety of London. So that this will be the first popular Natural History 



{ made its appearance here, which gives due and full recognition to tlie 



s. 



Zcvme of publication. 



e 6§ parts of 2§ pages, at the price of 25 cents each. The entire publication will 



Full Page Engravings on Wood, besides many hundreds of exquisite Illustrations 



The parts will be issued every two weeks, and arc payable only as delivered No 



•cd for less than the entire work, and anyone removing, or not regularly supplied, will 



ly mail. 



SELMAR HESS, Publisher, New York. 



