Sep 27, 2013 Library The Hen. The Child’s Illustrated Book of Natural History. The Hen. The Child’s Illustrated Book of Natural History. Another truly charming genre in our nineteenth-century American color plate collection is children’s books. Bird, mammal, and reptile illustrations in children’s books were a method of natural history instruction. For an interesting look at this broad topic see University of California, Picturing Childhood: the Evolution of the Illustrated Children’s Book. Wild Turkey. Prang’s Natural History Series for Children. 1878. There are many more ornithology books in the Museum Library’s color plate collection but it only seems right and fair that I end the Bird series with: Go hog wild, visit the Library and explore our general art reference books on naturalist illustration and the Audubons, and if you locate a book in the Library catalog from our rare book holdings, be sure to contact us at library@crystalbridges.org and we can arrange a private showing of many of the books discussed in the blog.
