Judging a Book by its Cover

Today's natural history books are generally wonderful, covering a wide choice of organisms and illustrated with excellent photographs and illustrations. But there is one aspect of natural history publishing that Victorian and Edwardian publishers excelled in and that has now almost disappeared: embossed covers. It's also something that downloaded digital books can never have - there is no way you can run your fingers over an embossed cover on your Kindle. Here are a few attractive examples from old natural history books.

Three Great Naturalists by John Upton, published in the early years of the 20th. century.

Wildlife at Home: How to Study and Photograph it, by Richard and Cherry Kearton, published in 1907

Morris's British Birds by the Rev. F.O. Morris. 1891 edition, published in 6 volumes.

Morris's British Butterflies by the Rev. F.O. Morris. 1870

A Popular History of British Mosses by Robert M. Stark, 1860

A Treatise on the Esculent Funguses of England by Charles David Badham, 1863

Bees, Wasps and Allied Insects of the British Isles by Edward Step, 1932

Rambles Among the Flowers: Fruiting Time by T. Carreras, early 1920s.

Ferns of Great Britain and their Allies by Anne Pratt, 

Wayside and Woodland Ferns by Edward Step

Shell Life by Edward Step, early 20th. century

Toadstools and Mushrooms of the Countryside by Edward Step