Sowerby, James

James Sowerby was an English naturalist and illustrator. He was the founding father of the Sowerby family. A British family of several generations of naturalists, illustrators, botanists, and zoologists active from the late 18th century to the mid twentieth century. Sowerby intended to reach an audience whose curosity for gardening and the natural world could be piqued by publishing the attractive and more affordable works. The appealing hand coloured engravings also became highly valued by researchers into the new fields of science.