author

Montagu Browne

Best known for practical, richly detailed books on taxidermy and natural history, this Victorian writer helped turn specialist museum skills into something curious amateurs could learn too. His work also reached a wider audience through contributions to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

1 Audiobook

Practical Taxidermy

Practical Taxidermy

by Montagu Browne

About the author

Born in 1837 and active into the early 20th century, Montagu Browne was an English taxidermist, naturalist, and museum curator. He is closely associated with Leicester, where editions of Practical Taxidermy identify him as curator of the Town Museum.

His books include Practical Taxidermy (1884), The Vertebrate Animals of Leicestershire and Rutland (1889), and Artistic and Scientific Taxidermy and Modelling (1896). Together, they show a writer interested not only in preserving specimens, but also in how museums could present the natural world clearly and attractively.

Browne also contributed articles on taxidermy to both the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and the 1911 edition. He died in 1923, leaving behind work that still offers a vivid glimpse of Victorian natural history, museum practice, and the hands-on craft of taxidermy.