Rev. John George Wood, author of Story of the Bible Animals

Fascination with Bible Lands was so keen in the 19th century that illustrated volumes of scenes and objects were always in high demand. One of the treasures, in a figurative sense, of this age is the work of Rev. John George Wood (1827-1899), an English cleric and writer of popular books on natural history. One of the books passed on to me several years ago is Wood’s Story of the Bible Animals (Charles Foster Publishing Company, 1886), one of several editions of this popular work. The illustrations in my copy are not of the highest quality, but they can still mesmerize across their faded and fraying pages.

An earlier edition of Wood’s natural history is available as a pdf online:; the full title of this is: Wood’s Bible Animals. A description of the habits, structure, and uses of every living creature mentioned in the scriptures, from the Ape to the Coral; and explaining all those passages in the Old and New Testaments in which reference is made to beast, bird, reptile, fish, or insect. Illustrated with over one hundred new designs, by Keyl, Wood, and E. A. Smith; Engraved by G. Pearson. By the Rev. J. G. Wood, M.A., F.L.S,. etc. To which are added articles on Evolution, by Rev. James McCosh, D.D., President of Princeton College, and Research and Travel in Bible Lands, By Rev. Daniel March, D.D. 1877. The first edition appeared in 1869. Wood’s 1898 Animal Creation Illustrated is also available in pdf online. Although outside the bible lands and more into the missionary fold, it is also worth looking at the illustrations in Wood’s The Uncivilized Races of Men in All Countries of the World (San Francisco: J. A, Brainerd and Caompany, 1882), which can also be found in pdf online.