I love this drawing by S.G. Goodrich for the preface of his book, The Animal Kingdom Illustrated, published in 1867. The elephant doesn't look too thrilled about having his portrait painted! But perhaps S.G. Goodrich identified more with the owl as he worked to accurately portray the animal subjects of the book. The rest of the 1400 drawings in the book are serious scientific illustrations, providing an exhaustive look at what was known about the animal world at that time. I came across the drawings in a box of old books when I cleaned out my attic. In the days before photographs, drawings like these were the only way that people learned about exotic animals except for those that they saw in zoos.
