I came across this book from 1889 on the Smithsonian Heritage Library database while looking for spiderweb patterns to draw a while ago and was fascinated by all of the photographs and details. These illustrations were taken from “American Spiders and Their Spinning Work” by Henry C. McCook. Tell me that book title wouldn’t make the coolest band name ever? 😉

The book covers the various types of webs spiders create and the elaborate engineering that goes into their delicate patterns. It’s amazing to consider how these tiny creatures build such beautiful and deadly trapezes around the world every day.

What drew me to this book were all of the gorgeous illustrations depicting web patterns and structures in nature. You might want to hit the link if you’d like to see more from this book as I have only posted a few of the many illustrations filling it!

-Taeden