William Wood was a naturalist and publisher in the first half of the nineteenth century. While working as a surgeon in London, Wood published his, Zoography a three-volume illustrated catalogue of select plants, animals and minerals. Wood wrote the text, with the illustrations being made by William Daniell. The work, along with another on conchology, earned Wood an immediate reputation as a natural historian and in 1815, he established himself as a publisher and bookseller specialising in natural history.