Testimonials to the “Tafeln” of Brebm’s Thierleben. 
I-35 Mnimate Creation. e—=* 
WE? have concluded to submit for public patronage a work with the above title, being a series 
Vv. 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 authorities for the production of most perfect representations of all the more important 
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 
these volumes are from drawings made from the é¢vzvg animals, many at the Zoological Society’s 
Gardens in London, England. 
We purpose that our patrons shall be aided and interested in their study by such an array of 
pictures as has never before embellished any Natural History. In numerous instances the engraving 
is printed in oil-colors, and this portion of the illustrations has been taken charge of by Messrs. L. 
Prang & Co., of Boston, who we believe rank foremost for high artistic results in this department of 
printing. These Oleographs were copied under the superintendence of Mr. Prang from the renowned 
“ Tafeln”’ of “ Brehin’s Thierleben,” so that they may be declared perfectly reliable. 
We sought competent advice from various sources as to the most suitable text that should ac- 
company this panorama of handsome Engravings. It was found impossible to embody all the present 
ideas of naturalists in a single work like this on account of the rapid advances and constant changes in 
their knowledge of, and habits of thought respecting, the Animal World. And it seemed to us cor- 
rect that the true object of Zoology is not to arrange, to number, and to ticket animals in a formal 
inventory, but to inquire into their life-nature, and not simply to investigate the lifeless organism. 
What do we know of “ Man” from the dissecting-room? Is it not Man, the warrior, the states- 
man, the poet, etc., that we are interested in? With all veneration which attaches itself to those 
who are the accredited possessors of abstruse learning, their inordinate use of phraseology detracts 
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. 
Our endeavor has been to find an author whose work would be noted for its fund of anecdote and 
vitality rather than for merely anatomical and scientific presentation, and we arrived at the conclu- 
sion that we could not do better than avail ourselves of the Rev. J. G. Wood’s comprehensive work 
a work most popularly approved by speakers of the English language. It would be superfluous to 
say one word concerning the standard character of his book, from the pages of which old and young 
at the other side of the Atlantic have obtained so much instruction and rational amusement. Avoid- 
ing the lengthened dissertations and minute classifications of specialists, he presents to his readers in 
popular terms a complete treatise on the Animal Kingdom of all climes and countries. The one 
objection that could be urged against it was, that animal life in America might be treated more fully 
and American forms given more consideration. In order to obviate this drawback and to do full 
justice to the creatures of our own country, we secured the aid of Dr. J. B. HOLDER, of the Ameri- 
can Museum of Natural History in New York, an undoubted American authority, who has adapted 
Wood’s work to American wants and given prominence to American forms of Animal life. 
The splendid work on Rodentia, by Allen, Coues, and others, will be fully consulted. The 
valuable work on North American Birds, by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, will be the guide in the 
. treatment of birds. The late arrangement of the classification and nomenclature of North American 
” 
I find it superfluous to enter here into particulars, as I already, in the ‘ Descent of 
They are certainly very admirable. 
n’s book, and how highly I esteem it. 
them. 
writes:—‘*I can quite endorse the favorable opinions already given by distinguished zoologists as to the high character of the illustrations 
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have willingly and openly confessed how much I have profited by Mr. Bret 
cK, Bart., D.C. 
2LES DARWIN wriles:—‘* The illustrations are the best I ever saw in any work. 
= Birds, by Mr. Ridgway, and the Committee on that subject of the Ornithologists’ Union, will be 
<= 45 utilized in full. The arrangement of Mammals will be after the latest classification by Professor 
S) E 2 2 Flower, of the Zoological Society of London. So that this will be the first popular Natural History 
= =°2 — worthy of the name that has made its appearance here, which gives due and full recognition to the 
2 nee animate world surrounding us. 
eH ne 
Terms of Publication. 
The extent of the work will be 68 parts of 28 pages, at the price of 25 cents each. The entire publication will 
contain $4 Oleographs and 68 Full Page Engravings on Wood, besides many hundreds of exquisite Illustrations 
interspersed through the text. The parts will be issued every two weeks, and are payable only as delivered. No 
subscriber’s name will be received for less than the entire work, and anyone removing, or not regularly supplied, will 
please address the Publisher by mail. 
N.E. SELMAR HESS, Publisher, New York. 
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