The New Naturalist library exists because one man wanted to produce a series of books so different to what had gone before that it would set a new standard of natural history publishing. This was a time when field study was being promoted to the new 'science' of ecology, the study of living things and their relationships with the environment. There were also new developments in the craft of photography, mainly developed by Kodak in the United States, enabling skilled naturalists to record wildlife in colour for the first time.

Billy Collins built up Collins and Co into a successful and well respected publishing company and it was Billy Collins who introduced the fine and beautiful 'Fontana' typeface used in Collins publications from the mid 1930s onwards. After their offices were blitzed in 1944, the company moved to new premises at 13-14 St James' Place, where they stayed until the 1980s. It was here that the New Naturalist board used to meet. Billy Collins worked with Julian Huxley, a gifted naturalist, scientist and author, to find authors of the highest calibre to write this series of books - a new survey of Britain's natural history.

Billy Collins wanted this to be one of the biggest ventures on which any publishing house had ever embarked, with the library originally conceived of as a programme of only 50 titles, produced over six years or so. Today, it is the most significant natural history library ever published, passing its 60th anniversary with over 100 tiles published.

The first informal meeting was held at the Jardin des Gourmets in Soho in June 1942. Billy Collins brought Wolfgang Foges of Adprint, and Julian Huxley was accompanied by James Fisher, the well known ornithologist. From this evolved the nucleus of the Editorial Board, whose job it was to combine subjects and authors. By the end of 1945, the first books were rolling off the presses.

It soon became clear that if the library was to embrace the whole of British natural history, including rocks, soils, and landscape, it would need at least two more editors. John Gilmour and Dudley Stamp were chosen and Eric Hosking joined as photographic editor. The first Board meeting was held on 7th January 1943 and over the first few meetings, the five members drew up a comprehensive list of titles and prospective authors.

Over the years, members of the Editorial Board changed but the quality and style of the books continued in the same spirit as was originally planned by Billy Collins. Although there was a period in the late 1970s after the death of Billy Collins, when the New Naturalists were not selling well and cutbacks were made, very slowly, the series picked up again and today, more than 60 years after their launch, the books are as well regarded as they ever were with many more titles scheduled for the future.

Please follow the link below to download a list of the latest valuations for the entire series.

Valuation List 2008