George Shaw was a botanist and naturalist who, from 1807, served as keeper of the natural history section of the British Museum (now the Natural History Museum). This book is part of his magnum opus, a catalogue of animals from around the world. The General Zoology was begun in 1800 but remained unfinished at the time of Shaw’s death in 1813. It was completed by his assistant, the entomologist James Francis Stephens (1792-1852), in 1826 and ran to a total of 16 volumes. The Royal Library holds the first 11 volumes only, bound in 22 books. Shaw’s Zoology is notable for being the first work to provide scientific names for several Australian species such as the platypus, wombat, kangaroo and echidna.