A History of British Fishes is a natural history book by William Yarrell, serialised in nineteen parts from 1835, and then published bound in two volumes in 1836. It is a handbook or field guide systematically describing every type of fish found in the British Isles, with an article for each species.
Yarrell was a London bookseller and newsagent with the time and income to indulge his interest in natural history. He was a prominent member of several natural history societies and knew most of the leading British naturalists of his day. He was able to draw on his own extensive library and collection of specimens, his wide network of like-minded naturalist friends, and his access to major libraries to garner material for his writings, the most important of which were A History of British Fishes and the 1843 A History of British Birds.
A History of British Fishes followed the example of Thomas Bewick's natural history books in its combination of up-to-date scientific data, accurate illustrations, detailed descriptions and varied anecdotes. The wood engraving illustrations were drawn by Alexander Fussell and engraved by John Thompson; three editions and their two supplements were published by John Van Voorst's company, based in Paternoster Row, London. Yarrell died in 1856, and the third edition was produced posthumously. The work was a commercial success and became the standard reference work for a generation of British ichthyologists. Yarrell's name is commemorated in eight species, three of which are fish, and in the lightfish genus Yarrella.
Author
William Yarrell (1784–1856) was the son of Francis Yarrell and his wife Sarah, . William's father and his cousin William Jones were partners as booksellers and newsagents in London. William joined the business in 1803 after leaving school, and inherited the company in 1850.
Yarrell had the free time and income to indulge his hobbies of shooting and fishing, and started to show an interest in rare birds, sending some specimens to the engraver and author Thomas Bewick. He became a keen student of natural history and collector of birds, fish, and other wildlife, and by 1825 he had a substantial collection. He was active in the London learned societies, and held senior posts in several for many years. He was treasurer of the Linnean Society from May 1849, until his death in 1856, vice president of the Zoological Society of London from 1839 to 1851, treasurer of the Royal Entomological Society from 1834 to 1852, and was also on the Council of the Medico-Botanical Society.
He knew many of the leading naturalists of his day, which helped him in the production of his books and articles, notably A History of British Fishes and his 1843 A History of British Birds.
Background
Written sources
Interest in natural history was growing rapidly in the early nineteenth century, and several writers sought to provide definitive lists of species found in Britain, with descriptions and other pertinent information. When Yarrell came to tackle the fish, written sources were limited. Edward Donovan's The Natural History of British Fishes (1802–1808) was the only reasonably recent specialist book, although Thomas Pennant's British Zoology (1812) and Bewick's A Natural History of British Quadrupeds (1808) were among other publications that covered some British fish.
The most notable foreign sources were the Histoire naturelle des poissons (1828–1831) by Baron Georges Cuvier and Achille Valenciennes, which contained descriptions of five thousand species of fishes, and Marcus Elieser Bloch's beautifully illustrated twelve-volume Allgemeine Naturgeschichte der Fische (1782–1795). The French book was important because Cuvier and Valenciennes had grouped similar species together, providing a logical order to their book. Yarrell had membership of the libraries of the British Museum and the Linnaean Society, and his friends gave him access to college collections and their own private libraries and notebooks. Yarrell personally owned at least 2000 books, of which about 80 were concerned with fish or fishing. The posthumous sale of his books in 1856 raised £1100.
