A Natural History of English Insects; Illustrated with a Hundred Copper Plates, Curiously Engraven from the Life, and exactly Coloured by the Author…To which are added, Large Notes, and many Curious Observations. By W. Derham

Description:

4th edition. The attractive plates illustrate mostly butterflies and moths and their larvae on food-plants. A few plates illustrate other insects. This edition contains the same sheets as the second edition except the type in the text relating to plates I to XXIV has been reset without alteration. Derham's dedication, preface and notes are bound between the list of subscribers and the text. According to Lisney, 'of the five editions of the 'Natural History of English Insects, those published in 1731 and 1735 are undoubtedly much scarcer than the others'.

[Lisney: 122]

Eleazar Albin (fl.1690-1742) was a naturalist and watercolour painter, the first of the great entomological book illustrators of the 18th century. Very little is known of his early life, he may have been born somewhere in the German states to a family named Weiss. By 1708 he had adopted the surname Albin, had married, and was living in or near the parish of St James's, Piccadilly. Around 1709-10 Albin met Mary, dowager duchess of Beaufort, a keen botanist who encouraged him to begin work on a natural history of insects. The first plates were engraved in 1713 and work proceeded apace until the onset of financial difficulties caused by the death of his patroness in January 1715. Although Albin had by this time already issued Proposals for Printing by Subscription ‘A Natural History of English Insects’ ([1714?]) from his premises, ‘next the Green Man near Maggots Brew House’ (Bristowe, ‘Life’, 82) in Golden Square, subscriptions were slow to come in and as a result the work was not finally published until 1720. Ultimately attracting 170 subscribers, 'A Natural History of English Insects' contained 100 copper plates which were hand-coloured by the author on request. Albin stressed that the insects depicted were copied ‘exactly after the Life’ as he had ‘observed it as a great Fault of those who have gone before me in this Way, that they either did not look often enough at their Pattern, or affected to make the Picture outdo Nature’.

'Natural History of English Insects’ is one of the finest British Lepidoptera books, the first to show British butterflies and moths in lifelike poses and full colour (Aurelian Legacy pp.109-110). It is a sumptuous, lavishly illustrated with exquisitely coloured plates intended for the enjoyment and delight of natural history enthusiasts, and for display in aristocratic libraries.

Albin further published 'A Natural History of Birds' (3 vols, 1731–8), 'A Natural History of Spiders' (1736), and illustrated (and possibly wrote) 'A Natural History of English Song-Birds' (1737). (ODNB)

Condition

4to, later vellum, ornamental gilt borders and spine, minor chipping to spine labels, light soiling; all edges tinted red, marbled endpapers, some surface damage to front endpaper where a book-plate has been removed. Very occasional light foxing and offsetting. A beautifully preserved copy. The colouring in this copy is more subtle and 'life-like' than is often the case. This copy bears the author's signature to the title-page, 'Eleazar Albin', neatly inscribed above the engraved coat of arms, and its presence may indicate the author had coloured the vibrant plates himself. Albin's manuscript signature authenticated by comparison with relevant original documents at the Natural History Museum, London.