The Nature Library

This site is the complete book The Nature Library — A Fifteen-Volume Guide to the Living World, page by page as originally printed — period spelling, remedies and opinions included. About this edition →

A fifteen-volume guide to the living world

The Nature Library

Birds, beasts, fishes, butterflies, moths, insects, wild flowers, mushrooms, trees, frogs, reptiles, mosses, and shells — the whole of natural history, written for the beginner who wants to “most quickly and surely learn to know the beautiful world that lies all about.”

About the Nature Library Browse the volumes

◆ A Cabinet of Curiosities ◆

The Curiosity Cabinet

Beasts, birds, shells and trees at their most improbable — the strangest specimens from fifteen volumes, each one linking to its page.

Open the Curiosity Cabinet →

The Fifteen Volumes

I Bird Neighbours Neltje Blanchan II Game Birds Neltje Blanchan III Bird Homes A. Radclyffe DugmoreImages coming soon IV American Animals Witmer Stone & William Everett Cram V Fishes David Starr Jordan & Barton W. Evermann VI Butterflies W. J. Holland VII Moths W. J. Holland VIII Insects Leland O. HowardImages coming soon IX Wild Flowers Neltje BlanchanComing soon X Mushrooms Nina L. MarshallComing soon XI Trees Julia Ellen RogersImages coming soon XII Frogs Mary C. DickersonImages coming soon XIII Reptiles Raymond L. DitmarsImages coming soon XIV Mosses and Lichens Nina L. MarshallImages coming soon XV Shells Julia Ellen RogersImages coming soon

Nature Study

✓ The Life List Check off every bird, beast and fish as you meet it. ? Name That Creature A plate, four names — can you identify it? ☼ Creature of the Day One creature from the volumes, chosen fresh each day. ✦ Monsters & Marvels Giant squids, unicorn shells, kissing bugs and the snake no venom can kill.
Rights & ReuseThe complete text of The Nature Library (published in the early twentieth century) is in the public domain in the United States — like all works published before 1928 — and is free to read, download, quote, teach from, and reuse. This digital edition (its transcription, restored plates, and site design) is © 2026 PhotoOpAI, and any editorial commentary we add is clearly marked as ours; the underlying public-domain text carries no such restriction.