John Jonston (1603-1675) was a scholar, renowned physician and distinguished naturalist.
Born in Poland, he was descended from Scottish nobility.
Jonston was highly educated. He gained degrees at the University of St Andrews, Scotland (theology, philosophy and Hebrew), the University of Cambridge (botany and medicine) and the Universities of Frankfurt, Franeker and Leiden.
Jonston created over fifteen great works about nature and medicine.
The most famous are the "Historiae naturalis" works, created from 1650-1662. These described the animal kingdom. Its superb copper engravings were by Matthaus Merian, the great German engraver.
Here are some of his Historiae naturalis engravings for you to choose from. They are genuine antiques from 1657 and have hand painted colouring.