This study examines paratexts and images in works of primatology. In order to classify generic traits of primatographical publications, all paratexts, images and narrative positions of a large corpus of such monographs were registered. The analysis of these data allows for the determination of three distinct genres: scientific books, illustrated books and autobiographical/popular science books. The paratexts also reveal the strategies employed in the presentation of the books: They address a lay public, underline scientific objectivity or generate authenticity. The form of the texts indicate the audiences that the books address and enact an intimate relationship between non-human primates and human beings. Images showing researchers in close contact with non-human primates as well as paratexts addressing monkeys or calling for their preservation and conservation embed these field studies within a Christian iconography, invoke the life of saints or martyrs and appeal to the empathy of the readership.

In this research article, graphical analytics is presented as a method for the investigation of page/layout- and image-based materials. This approach is used to analyse image composition, image constellations and the layout of the examined books, and it facilitates a comparison across several books within a single visualization. The methodology is introduced and the epistemology explained, along with concepts such as framework, simulative and heuristic models, and image constellations. Methodological steps like the establishment of the data set, the collection of specific data, the organization of the information architecture, and the design of the display of these data are explained. The method is illustrated through a case study on nine illustrated books on non-human primates. This material is analysed according to given research questions on the proximity of non-human primates and human beings being depicted in the images of these books, and on the differences between the illustrated books with respect to their target audiences. The findings of our graphical analytics reveal patterns of proximity between humans and non-human primates as well as the iconology of the Book of Genesis in the pictorial and textual materials used by these illustrated books. This contribution presents an introduction to graphical analytics with an exemplary application.

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