The collection of atlases of biological and natural history fields (e.g. botanical, ornithological), published in the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, and currently held by the Nencki Institute Library. Particularly noteworthy is the several-volume Atlas by Johann Friedrich Naumann (1780-1857) with the images of birds reproduced from old copper plates by his father Johann Andreas Naumann (1744-1826). It contains splendid engravings allowing the unambiguous identification of individual bird species, and descriptions ‘in a system arranged according to the best knowledge’ - as Johann Friedrich Naumann, the editor, stated in the introduction.