Category: Special or Unusual Items

1. A UNIQUE COLLECTION OF NATURE PRINTS OF EUROPEAN BUTTERFLIES BY AN ANONYMOUS COLLECTOR
NATURE PRINTS, A UNIQUE COLLECTION OF NATURE PRINTS OF EUROPEAN BUTTERFLIES BY AN ANONYMOUS COLLECTOR, c.1910-1938, 124 foolscap sheets contained in five loose leaf albums and one folder,most separated by clear cellophane sheets, with approximately 2750 specimens each with all four wings laid on individual cards affixed by stamp hinges to both sides of the album sheets, most with handwritten data of location and date of capture, without the body images drawn in as is often the practice with nature printing, all the widespread European species are represented with male and female, with a variety upper and undersides, seasonal variations and many other variations some extreme, Swallowtails, Apollos, fritillaries and other nymphalids, locations are mainly southern France, Swiss and French Alps but also Greece, north Africa, and Britain. The technique of nature printing was developed in the nineteenth century for impressing insect wing scales onto paper to form a reasonably life-like image. The wings had to be cut from the body and pressed between paper with specially prepared glues. This involved much practice and skill to achieve good results. Never a widespread skill nature-printing gradually lost popularity but with a few practitioners continuing into the 1930s. A brief account of nature printing was recorded in 1770 in A Receipt for taking the Figures of Butterflies on thin Gummed Paper by George Edwards. There is little literature on the subject other than a thirty one page booklet published in 1880 under the title of a Guide to Nature-Printing Butterflies and Moths by A M C (Alan Cole). There is no clue as to the the identity of the collector who assembled and created this collection other than the handwriting for the data but it is likely that he or she lived in the south of France or the Alpine regions of Switzerland or France during the mid to late 1930s when most of the specimens were caught. Nature print collections are exceedingly rare and one of so many European butterflies extremely unusual if not unique.
Stock No. 1133
£2500.

2. The AURELIAN: or, NATURAL HISTORY OF ENGLISH INSECTS; namely, BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. Together with the PLANTS on which they FEED
HARRIS, MOSES, The AURELIAN: or, NATURAL HISTORY OF ENGLISH INSECTS; namely, BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS. Together with the PLANTS on which they FEED, 1778 with additions, second edition (1st, 1776) second issue, folio, text in French and English set in parallel columns, engraved frontispiece (uncoloured) depicting a woodland scene with two gentlemen in fashionable 18th century dress carrying butterfly nets and collecting equipment, English title-page with engraved cartouche illustrating collecting equipment and nets, second title-page in French, xv – 90 pages + index 2 pages, anatomical diagram and 44 finely hand-coloured plates of butterflies, moths, and other insects many with larvae and pupae arranges amongst flowering plants and foliage, many of the plates include dedications inscribed to patrons of the work with their coats of arms, bound in contemporary calf which has been re-backed at an early date, some loosening of hinges, occasional light spotting or foxing and other minor marks, faint text off-setting on a few of the later plates mostly on the reverse side, the plates are well coloured and generally in very good condition, London, printed for the Author and J Robson of New Bond Street. (Lisney232). Moses Harris 1730-1788 was one of the leading entomologists of the 18th century and The Aurelian is undoubtedly the finest work on British butterflies, moths and other insects of the period. The highly artistic and decorative engravings accurately portray figures of butterflies and moths, along with many of their larva and pupae, which are described in the accompanying text. The latter has an easy flowing style revealing that Harris was a keen observer and breeder of these insects.
Stock No. 754
£6,500.

3. AN ALBUM OF 55 VARIOUS OLD ENTOMOLOGICAL 18-20th CENTURY PRINTS –
VICTORIAN ALBUM OF PRINTS, AN ALBUM OF 55 VARIOUS OLD ENTOMOLOGICAL 18-20th CENTURY PRINTS –, An original watercolour of a Meadow Brown resting on a sprig of flowers, and a miscellaneous collection of prints mostly hand-coloured from entomological books dating mostly from the nineteenth century a few earlier and some colour printed plates from books of the twentieth century, depicting butterflies, moths and other entomological subjects from Britain, Europe and the tropics including 8 prints by Hochecker & Muller of moths, 4 prints of beetles by R Morgan, a number of plates of mixed subject matter from encyclopedias, plate 3 from Humphreys & Westwood’s Transformations of British Butterflies, all are individually pasted into an album of blank pages of hand-made paper probably dating the second half of the nineteenth century with several dozens of unused sheets, bound into half calf covers and cloth boards with an irrelevant title on spine, most of the prints are in good condition but with very occasional marks or minimal foxing.
Stock No. 753
Sold