A beautiful, large-format crossover book for all ages, this is the book natural-history illustrator Ben has wanted to read since he was a child. Facts and descriptions provide insight into a curated collection of birds and animals – some endangered and some less so – told from the perspective of a detail-obsessed illustrator. Fun to read together or independently, let the secrets of the animals on our planet come to life in vibrant detail.
'This is my love letter to Planet Earth; a celebration of her hidden species, from the bold and the beautiful to the interesting but ugly. And while not a complete list, I hope that these few give a glimpse of the outstanding diversity of nature' – Ben Rothery
Ben Rothery is a detail-obsessed illustrator from Norwich, via Cape Town. He combines multiple processes to create intricate and delicate illustrations and repeating patterns, full of fine detail and vibrant colour. Much of Ben's work is inspired or informed by his love of nature – he grew up wanting variously to be a shark, dinosaur or David Attenborough crossed with Indiana Jones, but settled upon illustration as a compromise that allowed him to bring those fantasies to life on paper. Ben works from a small but perfectly formed studio in London, which he shares with an unnecessarily large collection of very sharp pencils.