Butterfly Collectors and Painters: Four centuries of colour plates from The Library Collections of The Natural History Museum, London

Description:

The author, a former entomology librarian at the Natural History Museum, London, has made a selection of 60 beautiful illustrations of butterflies from the unparalleled collection of fine and rare books and original art work held in the library at the NHM. These are reproduced here, each with a facing page of explanatory text. Some are well known to the butterfly enthusiast, others have been seen only by a few - many are unpublished and rarely exhibited. There are examples from the earliest illustrated books, unpublished paintings, old and new, to the most recent - all showing the development of butterfly art. Two introductory chapters: The Artist and Collector in a World of Butterflies; Collectors and Collecting.