The New Naturalist books are a series published by Collins in the United Kingdom, on a variety of natural history topics relevant to the British Isles. The aim of the series at the start was: "To interest the general reader in the wild life of Britain by recapturing the inquiring spirit of the old naturalists." In the editors' preface to a 1952 monograph they write "An object of the New Naturalist series is the recognition of the many-sidedness of British natural history, and the encouragement of unusual and original developments of its forgotten or neglected facets."

The first to appear was E.B. Ford's Butterflies in 1945. The authors of this series are usually eminent experts, often professional scientists. This gives the series authority, and many are or have been authoritative introductory textbooks on a subject for some years. The books are written in scientific style, but are intended to be readable by the non-specialist, and are an early example of popular science in the media.

The books of the series have had considerable influence on many students who later became professional biologists, such as W.D. Hamilton and Mike Majerus. The latter was inspired by Ford's Butterflies and Moths and later added two of his own volumes to the series.

A parallel series of Monographs was also published, but there have been no additions since 1971. Volume 82 of the main series, The New Naturalists, described the series to date, with author biographies and a guide to collecting the books.

The original Editorial Board consisted of Julian Huxley, James Fisher, Dudley Stamp, John Gilmour and Eric Hosking. Many of the highly characteristic dust jacket illustrations are by Clifford and Rosemary Ellis; others are by Robert Gillmor.

Being a numbered series, with a very low print run for some volumes, they are highly collectable. Second-hand copies of the rarer volumes, in very good condition, can command high prices. The 100th volume, Woodlands by Oliver Rackham was published in 2006. Woodlands was also published in 2006 as a leatherbound edition, limited to 100 copies. The second leatherbound New Naturalist - Dragonflies by Philip Corbet and Stephen Brooks was published in 2008. A third leatherbound book - Grouse by Adam Watson and Robert Moss has been announced for publication in September, and a fourth leatherbound volume - Southern England by Peter Friend, will be published in November. The leather edition of Dragonflies was initially limited to 400 copies, which was subsequently limited to 303, and finally to 250. According to the New Naturalist website only 217 were actually sold and the remaining unsold stock is being kept secure at Harper Collins offices.

The series won the 2007 British Book Design & Production Award for "brand or series identity", and in 2008 the was launched, with features including the latest news, a members only area with access to exclusive content and downloads, and a forum.

In around 1990, Bloomsbury produced a series of facsimile editions, as hardbacks with new dustjacket designs, and with all plates in black and white, including those which were originally in colour.

Harper Collins have also reprinted the first ten volumes of the series in collectible facsimile editions and in the summer of 2009 launch the full New Naturalists Library as Print on Demand, available only through the .

Main Series

Monographs

Notes and references