According to the Chinese zodiac 2023 is the year of the rabbit (specifically the Moon rabbit). To mark Chinese New Year we hopped over to the Old Library to see what we could unearth on rabbits from our collections.
The earliest depiction of a rabbit that we have is in the wonderful early 17th century bestiary The Historie of Foure-Footed Beasts (1607) compiled by Topsell [1]. This work features a charming woodcut of a rabbit pictured above.