早在达尔文之前，我们的祖先就对动物在外表方面的相似性和差异非常着迷。早期的科学家们能感觉到有一种秩序将所有的生命统一起来，并据此制定了各种方案来帮助说明这一点。人类对生物分类的这种追求给我们留下了丰富的艺术遗产，从古代和中世纪的民间传说和宗教信仰，到启蒙运动的自然主义编目，再到现代的计算机生成的分类迷宫。

本书通过视觉形式讲述了这一有趣的过程。这些精彩的动物学图表反映了当时流行的艺术趋势和科学发现，同时也告诉我们关于我们自己的情况，以及关于所描绘的生物的情况。

Long before Darwin, our ancestors were obsessed with the visual similarities and differences between the animals. Early scientists could sense there was an order that unified all life and formulated a variety of schemes to help illustrate this. This human quest to classify living beings has left us with a rich artistic legacy, from the folklore and religiosity of the ancient and Medieval world through the naturalistic cataloging of the Enlightenment to the modern, computer-generated classificatory labyrinth.

This book tells the fascinating, visual story of this process. The wonderful zoological charts reflect prevailing artistic trends and scientific discoveries, as well as telling us as much about ourselves as they do about the creatures depicted.