Historic Natural and Scientific Illustrations

Engravings and drawings from the 19th century depicting natural phenomena, insects, and scientific explorations.

Jules Verne (1828-1905), De la Terre a la Lune, 1865. Artist: Unknown

Otto von Guericke (Magdeburg,1602-Hamburg, 1686). German physicist, engineer and natural philosopher who invented the first air pump and used it to study the phenomenon of vacuum. Otto von Guericke showing his experiment with an evacuated sphere being carried out at Magdeburg. 16 horses were not able to pull apart the two halves of an evacuated sphere, which were known as Magdeburg hemispheres. This experiment took place on 8 May 1654. Engraving from Experimenta Nova, 1672, by Otto von Guericke

Naval Sciences. men reefing a sail. Iconographic Enclyclopaedia of science, Literature and Art. 19th century. Engraving. Author: HENRY WINKLES. Johan George Heck.

Donati's comet, 1858; Comete van Donati, in 10 October 1858. Donati's comet, October 10, 1858. In the foreground a man with dog at a river. A church tower on the left.

The great comet Donati of 1858, vintage engraved illustration. From the Universe and Humanity, 1910.

Francis John Pocock. Drowned June 3rd 1877, perished in the Congo cataracts during Stanley's first Congo expedition, Central Africa. Journey to unexplored Africa, the mysterious continent by Henry Morton Stanley. Old 19th century engraved illustration, El Mundo Ilustrado 1881

Geologists exploring the volcanic cirque of Ashna-cregs, Isle of Mull, Scotland. A natural amphitheatre of black basalt lava. After a drawing by French geologist Barthelemy Faujas de Saint-Fond. Cirque volcanique d'Ashna-cregs dans l'ile de Mull. Copperplate engraving by Milanese painter Gaetano Riboldi from Scipion Breislaks Traite sur la Structure Exterieure du Globe, Treatise on the Exterior Structure of the Globe, Jean-Pierre Giegler, Milan, 1822.

The eruption of the volcano Etna in Sicily, Italy, in 1892 / Der Ausbruch des Vulkan Ätna auf Sizilien, Italien, im Jahre 1892, Historisch, historical, digital improved reproduction of an original from the 19th century / digitale Reproduktion einer Originalvorlage aus dem 19. Jahrhundert.

Configuration of basalt lava in the Saint Denis river, Reunion Island. After a design in Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent's Voyage dans les quatre principales iles des mers d'Afrique, 1804. Dispositions des laves basaltiques dans la riviere S. Denis, ile de Bourbon. Copperplate engraving by Giuseppe Dall'Acqua from Scipion Breislaks Traite sur la Structure Exterieure du Globe, Treatise on the Exterior Structure of the Globe, Jean-Pierre Giegler, Milan, 1822.

Alert exclaimed Jean, vintage engraving. Alert exclaimed Jean, vintage engraved illustration. Jules Verne Cesar Cascabel, 1890. Copyright: xZoonar.com/PatrickxGuenettex 10659781

Comet. A comet to a night sky.

Seascape with waterspouts and 18th century sailing ships. Trombes marines. Handcoloured steel engraving from Felix-Edouard Guerin-Meneville's Dictionnaire Pittoresque d'Histoire Naturelle (Picturesque Dictionary of Natural History), Paris, 1834-39.

An excursion onto the Malvinas Islands: some officials taking soil and rock samples, illustration from the Voyage around the World in the Corvette LaCoquille by Duperry, 19th Century.

Maze of icebergs. Old 19th century engraved illustration. Second German North Polar Expedition in 1869 from El Mundo en La Mano 1879

Engraving titled 'Hydrostatic Paradox'. Pictured is a sectional view of a rock with a large cavity fed by a small stream above. Because of pressure on the sides caused by the hydrostatic paradox, when the cavity is filled the pressure can be enough to break the rock apart. Dated 19th Century

Artesian wells or aquifers. Puits artesiens. Handcoloured steel engraving from Felix-Edouard Guerin-Meneville's Dictionnaire Pittoresque d'Histoire Naturelle (Picturesque Dictionary of Natural History), Paris, 1834-39.

Ship Wrecked on Iceberg. Title illustration from Arctic Explorations in the Years 1853,54,55 by American explorer Doctor Elisha Kent Kane 1820 to 1857 Volume 1 published in Philadelphia by Childs and Peterson 1856 Engraved by J. McGoffin after a work by J. Hamilton from a sketch by Doctor Kane

The geyser of Waimangu in New Zealand, vintage engraved illustration. From the Universe and Humanity, 1910.

Active volcano Vesuvius, hand-coloured copperplate engraving from Friedrich Justin Bertuch Picture book for children, Weimar, 1798

hot air balloon, coal mine, fire and diving clock; Print warehouse for the youth; Physics. Leaf with 4 performances of physical matters: a hot air balloon, a coal mine, fire and a diving clock. Above every show a title and under every performance a six-perished verse. Numbered at the top right: No. 23.

We dig a second corridor, vintage engraved illustration. Jules Verne Cesar Cascabel, 1890.

Engraving depicting an experiment on how pouring oil into rough seas. Dated 19th Century

The 1912 caption reads: Hidden Terror of Seas The wonderful submarine vessel invented and commanded by Captain Nemo circled the man-o-war like a beast of prey about to attack its victim and playing with it before it strikes death-blow. Captain Nemo is a fictional character created by the French novelist Jules Verne. Nemo appears in two of Verne's science-fiction classics, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and The Mysterious Island. He also makes a cameo appearance in a play on which Verne may have collaborated, Journey Through the Impossible.

Title page of 'The Magazine of Science' (London, 4 May 1839) showing facsimiles of pictures taken by William Henry Fox Talbot's (1800-1877) 'photogenic drawing' process on which the magazine carried an article inside. Fox Talbot, English pioneer in the field of photography.

Engraving depicting the Leonids meteor shower, which was associated with the comet Tempel-Tuttle, as seen over Niagara Falls in 1833. Dated 19th century

George De Long (USA), in his ship 'Jeanette', proved that the Arctic Sea ice is moved by ocean currents. Watching the ice break up. Date: 24 July 1879

Antarctic exploration illustrated in 'Voyage au pole sud et dans l'Oceanie.' The French ships ASTROLABE and ZELEE under the command of Dumont D'Urville. Plate 28. 1842

Italy, 19th century. The descent of Mount Vesuvius. Lithograph by Gatti and Dura, 1846.

Portrait of Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) a Flemish/Netherlandish anatomist, physician, and author of books on human anatomy. Dated 16th Century

The observatory on Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy, in 1880, Historical, digital reproduction of an original from the 19th century, Europe

Donati's comet, 1858. Donati comet, October 10, 1858. In the foreground a man with dog at a river. A church tower on the left.

Astronomy: a comet in the night sky. Wood engraving, ca. 1860.

Engraving showing an hunting party of the American Franklin Search Expedition of 1878-1880, using kayaks to hunt reindeer. This expedition was one of many to search the Arctic for signs of Sir John Franklin's ill-fated Arctic expedition of 1845. In 1845 the British Admiralty sent two polar exploration ships, HMS 'Erebus' and HMS 'Terror', to look for the Northwest passage round the northern coast of Canada. The expedition, commanded by Sir John Franklin, disappeared from view late in 1845 a

Astrology: Vathek, and his mother Carathis, consult the planets. Etching by A. H. Torriere after W. Beckford.

Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741-1801). Swiss writer, Protestant pastor and founder of physiognomics. Lavater doing studies of physiognomy. Engraving after a painting by M.A. Gilli. La Ilustracion Española y Americana, 1881.

Basaltic cave of cheese in Bertrich Baden, vintage engraved illustration. From Natural Creation and Living Beings.

Donati's comet, 1858. Donati comet, October 10, 1858. In the foreground a man with dog at a river. A church tower on the left.

Island of Thera (Santorin) in eruption of 1866. Horseshoe shape created during cataclysmic eruption c1500 BC. May have created tidal wave destroying Knossus. Perhaps gave rise to Atlantis legend. Colour-printed engraving 1874.

Sepulchral cave of the Djebel necropolis. Syria, Syrian Arab Republic. Middle East, Old 19th century engraved illustration, Le Tour du Monde 1863

18th-century scientists investigating the hexagonal basalt columns of the island of Staffa, Inner Hebrides, Scotland. Perhaps one of them is Sir Joseph Banks. Aquatint drawn and engraved by William Daniell from William Woods Zoography, Cadell and Davies, 1807.

The Andromedes, a shower of meteors observed at Boston, USA, November 1872.

Eduard Gurk's watercolor depicts a salt lake in a chamber on a peep box leaf, showing lake surface, surrounding chamber walls, reflections, and structural features with aquarelle technique and highlights.

Topics tchouk-tchouk resume their occupations, vintage engraved illustration. Jules Verne Cesar Cascabel, 1890.

Geography: a water spout in the South Atlantic Ocean. Coloured lithograph by A. Aglio, 1824, after P. Schmidtmeyer.

Paalworms that affect the dyke protection, 1731, 1731 - 1733 print The discovery of the pileworms that affect the dyke protection, 1731. Three copies of the pole worm in the foreground. Northern Netherlands paper etching worms

Artist's concept of Soviet large phased-array, early warning and ballistic missile target-tracking radar at Krasnoyarsk (inset). From Soviet Military Power 1985. Country: Unknown

An extinct seasnake-like Mosasaur in the Niobrara sea, North America, late Cretaceous. A pterosaur, Pteranodon, at left, and sea turtle at right. Mosasaurs were probably giant sea monitor lizards of their time. Illustration from Wilhelm Bolsches Das Leben der Urwelt, Prehistoric Life, Georg Dollheimer, Leipzig, 1932.

A silver mine in Potosí, Bolivia: cross-section and miners digging. Engraving, ca. 1750.

Lunar Eclipse, showing the Earth's shadow beginning to pass across the face of the Moon. From 'The Beauty of the Heavens' by Charles F Blount (London, 1845). Coloured lithograph.

Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (February 16, 1834 - August 9, 1919), also written von Haeckel, was an eminent German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology, including anthropogeny, ecology, phylum, phylogeny, and the kingdom Protista. Haeckel promoted and popularized Charles Darwin's work in Germany.

The great meteor seen over Britain Date: 7 October 1868

Eruption of Vesuvius at night, 1794, Volcano near Naples, Italy, Historical, digitally restored reproduction of an original of the time, Europe

Astronomy: various apocalyptic scenes, including a volcanic eruption, war, and shipwreck. Coloured lithograph, c.1833?.

Skiopticon image from the Department of Photography at the Royal Institute of Technology. Use by Professor Helmer Bäckström as lecture material. Bäckström was Sweden's first professor in photography at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm 1948-1958.exampel on the rubber pressure. The original performed by Von H. Kühn in Innsbruk.For more info SE: Bäckström, Helmer. Photographic manual. Other revised edition. Nature and Culture. Stockholm. 1948. p. 696.

Painted lantern slide - Probable route of the Franklin Expedition, painted lantern slide, 1855-60 Smith & Beck Smith & Beck

The Appearance of a Comet: "The Star was Pointing Towards Moravia, the Tail Towards Turkey" 1682 Artist Unknown Copper engraving

Engraving depicting the filling of a balloon in England. Dated 19th Century

Meteorology: atmospheric effects. Coloured engraving by J. Emslie, 1846, after himself.

Day eruption, which happened in Vesuvius the day 10 weeks 1804.

Engraving depicting the electrical discharge during the eruption of Vesuvius in 1882

Seen with a halo - an extensive luminous ring most commonly seen about the moon. Here it is shown about the sun, and you can see a rainbow. Date: 1849

'Main Physiographic Features of the Koettlitz Glacier', 1913. Artist: Unknown.

Wawa Pichincha, Ruku Pichincha volcanos near Quito, Ecuador. Handcoloured copperplate engraving by Nasi from Giulio Ferrrario's Costumes Antique and Modern of All Peoples (Il Costume Antico e Moderno di Tutti i Popoli), Florence, 1842.

Bolide and its train. A Bolide is a large meteor which usually explodes in a fireball. From French 1870 popular book on astronomy. Chromolithograph.

Earthquake at Caracas, 1812, Illustration from the Book, Historical Cabinet, L.H. Young Publisher, New Haven, 1834

Three explorers observe the sun eclipse of April 6, 1894, during the expedition led by Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930) to reach the North Pole between 1893 and 1896, illustration from the magazine L'Illustration, year 55, no 2820, March 13, 1897.

Landscape of Europe Tertiary age, vintage engraving. Landscape of Europe Tertiary age, vintage engraved illustration. Earth before man 1886. Copyright: xZoonar.com/PatrickxGuenettex 10647678

Astronomy: a meteor in the night sky. Coloured wood engraving, 1868.

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