Scientific Illustrations

July 6, 2006 9:55 PM

Where can I find vintage scientific illustrations online, along the lines of these? Images of flora, fauna, human anatomy, sea creatures, and the like.

There's something I like about the precise and detailed look of these, so if there's anything similar to it that you care to share such as prints of architecture or landscapes or machines, please feel free to share! Hi-res images are highly preferred when possible.

posted by inactivist to media & arts (14 answers total)

look up Ernst Haeckel on line. You'll find lots of amazing illustrations like these.
posted by extrabox at 9:59 PM on July 6, 2006

yet another case of "i was just about to ask this question"
posted by michaelkuznet at 10:02 PM on July 6, 2006

John James Audubon did hundrends of plates of birds.

Wikipedia also has a lot of them in their articles about various phylums, orders, families etc. if you do a bit of poking around.
posted by borkingchikapa at 10:06 PM on July 6, 2006

BibliOdyssey.
posted by Sticherbeast at 10:13 PM on July 6, 2006 [1 favorite]

Look in the colophons at the back of O'Reilly books and see where they got theirs?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 10:17 PM on July 6, 2006

Gray's Anatomy has over a thousand illustrations - it's wealth of illustration was unprecedented, and since it's out of copyright now, you can pick up copies for a few dollars.
posted by -harlequin- at 10:48 PM on July 6, 2006

Seconding BiblioOdyssey. (It's by fellow MeFite peacay.)
posted by easternblot at 11:04 PM on July 6, 2006

try here.
posted by ab3 at 11:10 PM on July 6, 2006

posted by ab3 at 11:13 PM on July 6, 2006

Here is 435 John James Audubon plates
posted by hortense at 11:16 PM on July 6, 2006

Ooh, thanks for the plug. inactivist, the easiest way to find stuff is via delicious - all the posts are annotated.
posted by peacay at 7:11 AM on July 7, 2006

And wow! Thanks hortense, I somehow missed that. Beautiful!!
posted by peacay at 7:28 AM on July 7, 2006

Ooo, BibliOdyssey is gorgeous, thanks! Lots of good stuff here, too.
posted by dpcoffin at 9:56 AM on July 7, 2006

Fine Rare Prints
posted by macinchik at 10:56 AM on July 7, 2006