Eleazar Albin

Eleazar Albin (fl. 1690 – c. 1742)^[1] was an English naturalist and watercolourist illustrator who wrote and illustrated a number of books including A Natural History of English Insects (1720), A Natural History of Birds (1731–38) and A Natural History of Spiders and other Curious Insects (1736). He has been described as one of the "great entomological book illustrators of the 18th century".^[1]

Frontispiece from 1736 edition of The Natural History of Spiders and other Curious Insects with Albin on a horse

Biography

"Albin's Macaw", a Jamaican parrot only known from this 1740 painting by Eleazar Albin

Nothing is known of Albin's early life, though he may have been German-born; he claimed to have been in Jamaica in 1701. In 1708 he is known to have been married and living in Piccadilly, London. According to autobiographical details in A Natural History of English Insects, Albin taught watercolour painting before being instructed in natural history by silk weaver and naturalist Joseph Dandridge.

Privet Hawk Moths and Callajoppa Exaltatoria by Eleazar Albin, 1720

A Natural History of Birds has coloured engravings by Albin and his daughter Elizabeth Albin. In that book Albin writes "As for the paintings, they are all done from life, with all the exactness I could either with my own hand, or my daughters, whom I have taught to draw and paint after the life".^[2]

In his work on birds he describes the wood-crow (northern bald ibis) from a stuffed specimen, being probably the last description of this bird made while the species was still extant in Europe.^[3]

Works

• E. Albin. A natural history of English insects. Illustrated with a hundred copper plates, curiously engraven from the life: and (for those who desire it) exactly coloured by the author (London, William Innys, 1720).
• Albin, Eleazar (1731–1738). A natural history of birds : illustrated with a hundred and one copper plates, curiously engraven from the life (3 Volumes). London: Printed for the author and sold by William Innys.
• E. Albin. A natural history of spiders, and other curious insects (London, Tilly, 1736).
• E. Albin. A Natural History of English Songbirds (1737). With coloured plates.
• R. North & E. Albin. The History of Esculent Fish (1794).