This biography of Sir William Jardine (1800-1874), the foremost Scottish naturalist of the 19th century, uses original source material (manuscripts, correspondence, etc.). Despite Jardine's considerable achievements as ornithologist, ichthyologist, publisher and catalyst of Victorian science, no comprehensive biography exists. Jardine owned the finest private natural history museum and library in Britain and made natural history available to anyone who could read by issuing 40 small volumes on birds, mammals, fishes and insects.

William Yarrell (1784-1856) was an influential naturalist at a time when natural history was becoming an important factor in 19th century society. He wrote two notable books: A History of British Fishes and A History of British Birds, that were being quoted as the authorities well into the next century and are still admired today, especially for their delightful wood engravings. He was a member and sometime Treasurer, Secretary and Vice-President of the Zoological, Linnean and Entomological Societies. He was known to, and greatly admired by, the leading naturalists; Charles Darwin sought Yarrell's advice on several occasions. In addition to his key role as an organiser and disseminator of knowledge about the British fish and bird fauna, Yarrell also conducted significant original scientific research, being perhaps best known as the first person to recognise Bewick's Swan as a separate species from the Whooper Swan, naming it Cygnus bewickii after his illustrious ornithological predecessor. Yarrell owned the London newsagency, Jones and Yarrell, with his partner, Edward Jones, from 1803 until 1850. They held a royal warrant and supplied the Houses of Parliament as well as royalty with newspapers. Besides his work on natural history and running the newsagency, he was a popular figure with his friends, renowned for the good food and wine served at his convivial dinner parties, and he was a prolific correspondent.

People in most countries are familiar with the blue peacock. It is one of the very few bird species that will tolerate a person standing within a few feet of it, and appears to appreciate an audience when it unfurls its magnificent train into a 6 7-foot arc of glittering iridescent feathers. The train feathers with their eye-spots have been prized possessions for centuries. The first record of a peacock in the Middle East, taken there from its homeland in the Indus Valley, was when King Solomon imported them c. 950 BC. The story of the peacock spread westwards and its impact on different countries is both surprising and fascinating. Peacocks became the subject of fairy stories, legends, fables, myths and superstitions. Images of peacocks have appeared in mosaics, frescoes, paintings from illuminated manuscripts through to modern graphics, and in the nineteenth century they represented opulence, luxury and vibrant beauty in the artefacts created by the Arts and Crafts, the Aesthetic and the Art Nouveau movements' craftsmen in glass, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery and other materials. The feathers of peacocks have been used in head-dresses, hats and helmets, to fletch arrows and to tie artificial flies for fishermen. This is the first book to bring together all the facets of the peacock including natural and social history, its role in religions and mythology in the East and West, and its place in the history of art and artefacts.