The Illustrated Natural History Mammalia J G Wood c1891 Gee Family Provenance
 
Title & Bibliographic Details
Title: The Illustrated Natural History. Mammalia. With New Designs by Wolf, Zwecker, Weir, Coleman, Harvey, etc. etc. Engraved by the Brothers Dalziel.
Author: The Reverend J. G. Wood, M.A., F.L.S.
Publisher: George Routledge & Sons, Limited, London, Glasgow, Manchester and New York
Date: Circa 1890–1892, undated
Printer: Richard Clay and Sons, Limited, London and Beccles
Binding: Original green pictorial cloth
Pagination: 800 numbered pages present; preliminary page vii of the preface missing
Dust Jacket: No dust jacket present
An attractively illustrated late Victorian natural history volume, distinguished by its elaborate original pictorial binding, numerous engraved illustrations and intriguing historical material found laid inside.
Research into the names on one of the accompanying photographs suggests a possible connection to the Gee family of Thorney, Cambridgeshire, while a separate illustrated plate depicting Sunrise at Crowland adds a further Fenland connection.
 
Historical & Bibliographical Context
J. G. Wood's The Illustrated Natural History brought the study of the animal kingdom to a broad Victorian readership through accessible descriptions and detailed illustrations. This volume focuses on Mammalia, featuring designs by artists including Joseph Wolf, E. Zwecker, Harrison Weir, Coleman and Harvey, engraved by the celebrated Brothers Dalziel.
The volume is undated, but its publisher's imprint provides a basis for dating it to circa 1890–1892. The combination of the name George Routledge & Sons, Limited, and the addresses “Broadway, Ludgate Hill” and “Glasgow, Manchester, and New York” is consistent with Routledge publications of this period. This is a bibliographical estimate rather than a date stated in the book.
 
About the Author
The Reverend John George Wood (1827–1889) was an English naturalist and clergyman best known for his popular illustrated works on animals and natural history.
 
Binding & Condition
The original green cloth binding features elaborate red and black animal and bird decoration, gilt lettering to the front and spine, and a gilt block on the spine. The page edges were originally marbled, though the colouring has faded.
The binding remains generally robust but shows edge rubbing, patches of wear, scratches and marks, creases to the rear board, and bumped, torn corners.
Internally, the pages are generally neat and legible, with age-related tanning, occasional light foxing, marks and minor folds. The very occasional small edge tears are present. A tear affects the text on page 332 and the leaf overleaf, although the text remains legible; rubbing affects a small portion of the text on pages 216–217.
There are cracks in the gutters, including between the pastedowns and free endpapers and between a handful of pages. The frontispiece is present but nearly loose, as is the front free endpaper. A pencil inscription appears on the front flyleaf, understood to be in Latin and referring to the taxonomic classification of humankind. An ink bookseller's stamp for Hooke, Bookseller, appears on the reverse of the rear free endpaper.
The preliminary matter is incomplete, with page vii of the preface missing, although all 800 numbered pages of the main text are present.
Dimensions: Approximately 25.6 × 18 × 5.6 cm
Weight: Approximately 1,806 g
 
The Stories Within the Story: Gee Family & Fenland Connections
Three historic black-and-white photographs were found laid inside the volume. One depicts a girl and boy holding the reins of a large horse outside a farmhouse; another shows the children sitting on a lawn in front of a house; the third depicts three children apparently on a beach.
The handwritten names on the reverse of the photograph showing the children with the horse have been identified through research as William Victor Gee and Cicely Mary Gee. Their details correspond with the Gee family recorded in the 1911 census at Wrydelands, Thorney, Cambridgeshire. William was nine and Cicely five, and both were born in Thorney. Their father, Thomas Gee, was recorded as a farmer and Shire horse breeder, providing a compelling connection to the horse in the photograph.
The farmhouse appears consistent with the surviving Wrydelands farmhouse. Together, the names, census records, apparent property resemblance and family connection to Shire horse breeding support the proposed identification. A date around 1907–1911 is possible based on the children's apparent ages, although the precise date and location have not been conclusively established.
Also found laid inside the volume is a separate colour plate titled Sunrise at Crowland, bearing the imprint “F. Dangerfield, Lith. London”. Research indicates that it relates to The Fenland Past and Present by Samuel H. Miller and Sydney B. J. Skertchly, rather than to Wood's natural history work. Crowland lies approximately five miles from Thorney, adding another intriguing local connection.
There is no established evidence that the photographs or the plate originally belonged to this book or were brought together by the Gee family, but they were found kept inside it. Nevertheless, the historical clues form a compelling story of people, place and rural life, giving this particular copy an interest beyond its printed contents.
For the antiquarian book collector, this is a volume that invites curiosity: a Victorian natural history work accompanied by material that may preserve traces of a family and landscape from the Fenland past.