Testimonials to the “Tafeln” of Brebm’s Thierleben. 
J=2-& Animate: Creation, 6—=* 
‘6 KK E have concluded to submit for public patronage a work with the above title, being a serie 
5 v5 of exquisite Engravings representing the ANIMAL WORLD, executed with great 7 
o accuracy, and accompanied by full Descriptive Text, written in popular terms, so as 
5 delight and instruct the people. Anyone who has considered the subject must be at a loss to onda 
S stand why an ILLUSTRATED NaturaAL History, comprehensive and at the same time popula 
4 has not before this been published in this country. Indeed any lover of animals who has visited th 
great museums and zoological gardens and has had access to books of engravings in the publi 
libraries, could not fail to remark the wealth of material in existence devoted to this subject. Be 
confirmed in our conviction of the desirability of such a work, we laid under contribution the 
existing authorities for the production of most perfect representations of all the more import 
living creatures, and among the artists whose delineations will delight the reader, we may mentio 
Harrison Weir, Wolf, Coleman, Fr. Specht, and Mutzel. By far the majority of the engravings 
these volumes are from drawings made from the /zvzvg animals, many at the Zoological Society 
Gardens in London, England. 
We purpose that our patrons shall be aided and interested in iets study by such an array | 
pictures as has never before embellished any Natural History. In numerous instances the engravil 
is printed in oil-colors, and this portion of the illustrations has been taken charge of by Messi J 
Prang & Co., of Boston, who we believe rank foremost for high artistic results in this department | 
printing. These Oleographs were copied under the superintendence of Mr. Prang from the renow 
“ Tafeln’”’ of * Brehm’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 a 
company this panorama of handsome Engravings. It was found impossible to embody all the prese 
ideas of naturalists in a single work like this on account of the rapid advances and constant change 
their knowledge of, and habits of thought respecting, the Animal World. And it seemed to us' 
hly I esteem it. 
it superfluous to enter here into particulars, as I alread 
given by dis 
1f 
“g rect that the true object of Zoology is not to arrange, to number, and to ticket animals in a f 
Oo . . . . . . . . . . ie. 
og inventory, but to inquire into their life-nature, and not simply to investigate the lifeless organism 
Acts Ys | ply s g 
ae What do we know of “ Man” from the dissecting-room? Is it not Man, the warrior, thes 
= bd ° . ry: : ri ° 1 
2 man, the poet, etc., that we are interested in? With all veneration which attaches itself to tho 
A~ > } > > x 
who are the accredited possessors of abstruse learning, their inordinate use of phraseology detr 
too much, we fear, from the fascination that the study of the Animal World would otherwise 
and as we are not content to have our work restricted to a favored few, we thought the task p 
in our hands to be to keep the work free from a repellant vocabulary of conventional technica 
Our efideavor has been to find an author whose work would be noted for its fund of anecdot 
vitality rather than for merely anatomical and scientific presentation, and we arrived at the cot 
sion that we could not do better than avail ourselves of the Rev. J. G. Wood’s comprehensive wo 
—a work most popularly approved by speakers of the English language. It would be superfluo 
say one word concerning the standard character of his book, from the pages of which old and 3 
at the other side of the Atlantic have obtained so much instruction and rational amusement. A 
ing the lengthened dissertations and minute classifications of specialists, he presents to his read 
popular terms a complete treatise on the Animal Kingdom of all climes and countries. Th 
objection that could be urged against it was, that animal life in America might be treated more fu 
and American forms given more consideration. In order to obviate this drawback and to d 
justice to the creatures of our own country, we secured the aid of Dr. J. B. HOLDER, of the Ami 
can Museum of Natural History in New York, an undoubted American authority, who has ad 
Wood's work to American wants and given prominence to American forms of Animal life. 
The splendid work on Boren by Allen, Coues, and others, will be fully consulted. 
valuable work on North American Birds, by Bara Brewer, and Ridgway, will be the wudeal 
treatment of birds. The late arrangement of the classification and nomenclature of North Am 
Birds, by Mr. Ridgway, and the Ganireitece on that subject of the Ornithologists? Union, 
aiilized in full. The arrangement of Mammals will be after the latest classification by Pro 
Flower, of the Zoological Society of London. So that this will be the first popular Natural E 
worthy of the name that has made its appearance here, which gives due and full recognition to 
animate world surrounding us. 
how much I have profited by Mr. I 
5 
” 
ER, M.D., LL.D., writes:—'‘I can quite endorse the favorable opinions already 
The late CHARLES DARWIN writes:—‘' The illustrations are the best I ever saw in any work. 
generally. 
W. B. CARPE! 
Terms of Publication. 
The extent of the work will be 68 parts of 28 pages, at the price of 25 cents each. The entire publicati 
contain $4 Oleographs and 68 Full Page Engravings on Wood, besides many hundreds of exquisite Illust 
interspersed through the text. The parts will be issued every two weeks, and are payable only as delivered 
subscriber’s name will be received for less than the entire work, and anyone removing, or not regularly suppli 
please address the Publisher by mail, 
NE: SELMAR HESS, Publisher, New York. 
