Moffett, Thomas. [Moffat, Mouffet or Muffet]. Insectorum sive minimorum Animalium Theatrum. Olim ab Edoardo Wottono, Conrado Gesnero, Thomaque Pennio inchoatum.
1st. Ed. 1st. Iss. Pub. London. 1634 pp.[xx], 326, [iv] with woodcuts throughout the text, last 4 leaves with woodcut illus. Royal 4to. Hardback. Title page professionally reinforced at gutter, lightly chipped to fore-edge. Overall, contents in nr. fine condition. Contemporary full-calf boards in thoroughly vg. condition, more recent spine in fine condition. A very pleasing copy indeed. One of three variant imprints, Lisney identifies this variant as the first issue given the appearance of ‘apud Benjam, Allen’ on the title page. Lisney 3, British Bee Books 25.
A very significant work indeed. A first edition, first issue, copy of the first book about insects published in Britain. Partly compiled from the writings of Edward Wotton, Conrad Gesner and Gesner's assistant Thomas Penny, Moffett's copiously illustrated treatise remained the ‘standard work’ on insects until the early 1700s.
£8,750.00 [ref: 57767]
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Morris, Rev. F.O. A History of British Moths.
6th. Ed. Pub. John C.Nimmo. 1903 Four volume set with 132 hand-coloured plates. 4to. Hardbacks. Minor spotting, one short closed marginal tear, o/w. contents fine. Parts uncut. Original green cloth boards with gilt moth emblem to front cover and gilt lettering to spine, all in vg. to thor. vg. condition.
£295.00 [ref: 60743]
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Morris, Rev. F.O. A Natural History of British Moths.
3rd. Ed. Pub. John C. Nimmo. 1891 Four volume set with 132 hand-coloured plates. Large 8vo. Hardbacks. Neat ownership signature dated 1893. Very minor amount of spotting, o/w. contents fine. Original decorated green cloth in nr. fine / fine condition. A very pleasing set indeed.
Nearly 2,000 distinct specimens are illustrated in the hand-coloured plates. In their advert (1892) for this work, J.C. Nimmo said that this work ‘Accurately [delineates] every known species, with the English as well as the scientific names, accompanied by full descriptions, date of appearance, list of localities they haunt, their food in the caterpillar state, and other features of their habits and modes of existence, &c.’
£525.00 [ref: 58846]
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Prideaux, Robert M. Lepidoptera of the Wiesbaden District.
Manuscript. 1888 Handwritten manuscript of 84 pages, plus 12 pages of notes loosely inserted, with a fine pencil illustration of Gonepteryx Rhamni, the Common Brimstone. Large 8vo. Hardback. Contents fine. Bound in original cloth backed boards, rubbed on corners, o/w. vg. A unique work.
Prideaux was clearly very knowledgeable and compiled content for this insightful text over a long period, with observations dating back to 1820. Locations mentioned include Thal, Rheingau, Mainz, Baden Baden, Geisenhaum and further afield. He was systematic in approach and talks about when broods appear, host plants, where seen geographically and habitually, what may be used to attract butterflies, how the weather affects them and much more. He gives his own opinions and refers to source material. The work ends with a section entitled ‘Localities and Time of Appearance of Rhopalocera arranged according to the Calender’ in which he details the appearance of species by month.
£425.00 [ref: 60861]
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Rennie, James. A Conspectus of the Butterflies and Moths found in Britain.
1st. Ed. Pub. William Orr. 1832 pp.xxxvii, errata, [ii], 287 with vignette title-page. Small 8vo. Hardback. With dated signature of William Buckler (May 29th. 1855) and his neat annotations to twelve leaves. Small piece excised from ffep. and half-title. Some spotting o/w. contents fine. Period green cloth, spine more recently relaid, in thor. vg. to nr. fine condition. A unique copy.
‘For the last quarter-century of his life, William Buckler [1814-1884] devoted his energies to drawing and describing caterpillars of British moths and butterflies, [his] ‘Larvae of the British Butterflies and Moths’....was rightly hailed as the finest set of such illustrations ever made. It still is.’ (Salmon). For a fascinating biography of Buckler, we recommend reading Salmon’s ‘The Aurelian Legacy’.
£275.00 [ref: 63756]
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Saunders, Edward. The Hemiptera Heteroptera of the British Islands. A descriptive account of the Families, Genera, and Species Indigenous to Great Britain and Ireland, with notes as to Localities, Habitats, Etc.
1st. Ed. Pub. L. Reeve & Co. 1892 pp.vi, [1], 350 with one uncoloured and 31 hand-coloured plates. Large 8vo. Hardback. The large paper edition. Occasional, minor spotting, o/w. contents in fine condition. Bookplate of Arthur Cyrus Butterworth. Original binding with gilt lettered spine and gilt lozenge to front board, all in nr. fine condition. A very pleasing copy.
£275.00 [ref: 57956]
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Seitz, A. The Macrolepidoptera of the World. Volume 1. The Macrolepidoptera of the Palaearctic Fauna - Tome 3 Noctuiform Phalaenae.
1st Ed. Pub. Fritz Lehmann Verlag- Stuttgart. 1907 Bound in two volumes, the first comprising text, the second comprising 72 full-page, colour plates of chromolithograph images. Folio. Hardbacks. Contents in fine condition. Handsomely bound in half-morocco leather over cloth boards, gilt lettered spine, all in fine condition.
£300.00 [ref: 21139]
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Stainton, H.T. (et al). The Natural History of the Tineina. Volumes I to XIII.
1st. Ed. Pub. John van Voorst. 1855-1873 Thirteen volume set with 104 hand-coloured plates. 8vo. Hardbacks. Bookplate to Vol. 1. Some darkening and / or spotting to end-papers and the occ. title page. Some sections uncut. Elsewhere only minor spotting or marginal darkening, o/w. contents fine. Publisher’s blue cloth, lettered in gilt to spine and blind rules to boards, nr. fine to fine. A very pleasing set indeed.
‘Distinguished for its beautiful hand-coloured plates of larvae, many of them drawn by [William] Buckler. The text is uniquely in four languages, English, French, German and Latin - Stainton was fluent in all of them - arranged in parallet columns’ (Salmon).
£1,250.00 [ref: 63627]
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Stephens, James Francis. Illustrations of British Entomology; or a Synopsis of Indigenous Insects. Mandibulata Vol. I to VII [with] Haustellata Vol. I to IV [with] Supplement.
1st. Ed. Pub. Baldwin and Craddock / Henry G. Bohn. 1828-1846 Twelve vols. bound in five with 95 fine hand-coloured, copper engraved, plates. Royal 8vo. Hardback. All title pages and indexes present. Neat repair to three leaves, only very minor spotting o/w. contents fine. More recent quarter calf over marbled boards with gilt lettering and raised bands in most pleasing nr. fine condition.
With fine hand-coloured plates by C.M. Curtis and J.O. Westwood. Stephens (1792-1852) was an English entomologist, naturalist and fellow of the Linnaen Society. ‘While at the University of Cambridge, the student Charles Darwin became an enthusiastic insect collector. He sent Stephens records of the rarer insects he had captured, and was delighted when ‘Illustrations of British Entomology’ gave him credit for capturing insects described in 33 entries, quoting his words in all but two of the cases. Darwin recalled in his autobiography ‘No poet ever felt more delight at seeing his first poem published than I did at seeing in Stephen's Illustrations of British Insects the magic words, 'captured by C. Darwin, Esq.’’
£1,675.00 [ref: 66527]
W[ard] Hon. Mrs. [Mary]. & M[ahon], Lady [Jane]. Entomology in Sport, and Entomology in Earnest.
1st. Ed. Pub. London, Paul Jerrard & Son. [1859] pp.[ii], 20, 48 with additional hand coloured pictorial title, hand coloured frontis., and decorative wreath enclosing the Dedication. Further hand coloured wood-engraved initials and illus. to text. 8vo. Hardback. AEG. A thought provoking poem about a beetle neatly written in pencil to ffep. Some minor spotting / marks, o/w. contents fine. Original richly gilt decorated blue cloth, expertly rebacked preserving part of the original spine and end-papers. Scarce.
Jerrard publications are renowned for their delightful, detailed, hand colouring and this book is testament to that.
£495.00 [ref: 66038]
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