History of the Essex Naturalist

From the outset, publication of a Journal was recognised to be an important and necessary contribution by the Club to its Members. At first, the ''Transactions'' and "Proceedings" were published separately, but towards the end of 1886, the Council decided to combine these two in a single issue entitled (at Prof. Meldola's suggestion) "The Essex Naturalist" and as such it has continued to be issued with reasonable regularity, in spite of war-time difficulties, reaching Vol. 33 by 1976. It was issued at first quarterly, then in about 1910 at half-yearly intervals, even throughout the last War, although after 1942 for 3 years, the issues were not covered in stiff paper jackets because of a shortage of this kind of paper. 

A new series numbered 1, 2, 3, etc followed from 1977, and currently stands at No. 40 for the year 2022/2023. Since 1999, i.e. Essex Naturalist (New series) 16 onwards, the journal has contained 8, 16 or 24 pages of colour plates and a colour cover.