John Selby (1788 – 1867) was born at Alnwick in Northumberland. He was an English natural history artist, botanist and ornithologist. He was a graduate of the University College, Oxford. Selby came from a well-off family and in 1804, he succeeded to the family estate at Beal, and about 1840, he added to the landholdings at a cost of £14000. In 1850, he sold the Beal estate for £47000 (this is about (£4,533,000 at today's prices). This landholding covered 590 ha (1,450 acres). Selby married Tabitha Mitford Lewis and the couple had three daughters. The artist is best remembered for his Illustrations of British Ornithology – this was the very first set of actual size illustrations of British birds. Selby also wrote A History of British Forest-trees and Illustrations of Ornithology together with Jardine William.
Quite a number of the illustrations in his works have been drawn from samples in his collection. Apart from the above works, the artists also contributed to Naturalist's Library by Jardine, the volumes on the parrots and the pigeons, the former was illustrated by Lear Edward. He was for some time one of the editors of the Magazine of Zoology and Botany. In 1885, Selby‘s collections were sold and became dispersed. Some, like The South African birds that were collected by Smith Andrew were taken to the University of Cambridge at the Zoology Museum. Selby died at Twizell House and was buried at a churchyard in Bamburgh. His botanical illustrations continue to inspires, botany students, art students and art teachers as well.
