Jacob Klein served as
secretary of the Senate in Danzig and founded a botanical
garden there. He collected natural-history objects to
further his interest in taxonomy and was the first to
use binomial nomenclature for molluscan classification.
Klein believed that classification must be based on external
characteristics and vigorously opposed the Linnean classification
system because it did not adhere to this method.
Klein’s emphasis
on visible elements made the illustrations in his books
particularly important. In this work intended to encompass
the known world of birds’ eggs in one place, the
hand-colored engravings showing subtle variations of birds’
eggs allowed comparisons between different specimens.