John Frederick Miller

John Frederick Miller (1759–1796) was an English illustrator, mainly of botanical subjects.

Miller was the son of the artist Johann Sebastian Müller (1715 – c. 1790). Miller, along with his brother James, produced paintings from the sketches made by Sydney Parkinson on James Cook's first voyage. He accompanied Joseph Banks on his expedition to Iceland in 1772.

figure from Cimelia Physica

Between 1776 and 1785 Miller published 60 hand-coloured engravings in his Icones animalium et plantarum or Various subjects of Natural History, wherein are delineated Birds, Animals and many curious Plants, &c. Very few copies this work survive. The plates include binomial names. Some of these names contain the oldest published specific epithet and therefore have priority over later scientific names. There are seven species of bird for which Miller is the authority; these include the king penguin, the secretarybird, the crested caracara and the extinct Tahiti crake.

The plates were republished in 1796 with additional text by George Shaw as Cimelia Physica or Figures of rare and curious quadrupeds, birds, &c. together with several of the most elegant plants.

Works

• Miller, John Frederick (1776–1785). Icones animalium et plantarum. Various subjects of Natural History, wherein are delineated Birds, Animals and many curious Plants, &c (in Latin). London. Published in 10 parts with 6 plates in each part. See: Sherborn, C.D.; Iredale, T. (1921). "J. F. Miller's Icones". Ibis. 11th series. 3: 302–309. A scan of the copy held the Natural History Museum in London is available from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. It is missing Part 10 with its 6 plates.
• Miller, John Frederick Miller; Shaw, George (1796). Cimelia Physica. Figures of rare and curious guadrupeds, birds, etc., together with several of the most elegant plants engraved & coloured, from the subjects themselves. London: Printed by T. Bensley for Benjamin and John White, Horace's Head, Fleet-Street, and John Sewell, Cornhill. OCLC 642452311.