Insectorum sive minimorum Animalium Theatrum

Description:

First Edition. Text Latin. This book is the first dealing entirely with entomology to be published in the British Isles. It originated with Conrad Gesner's manuscript material on insects, which remained unpublished at the time of his death in 1565. This unpublished manuscript passed to Thomas Penny, who spent fifteen years bringing together additional material for the book, a task which remained incomplete at the time of his own death in 1588. Penny bequeathed the manuscript to Moffet, who added further new material, chiefly taken from Wotton's "De Differentiis Animalium Libri Decem", and eventually completed the manuscript in 1589. It remained unpublished when Moffet himself died in 1604. Sir Theodore Mayerne eventually acquired the manuscript and published it, with the addition of a dedication, in 1634. The original manuscript is now preserved in the British Library. The illustration of the American Swallowtail butterfly on p 98 is the first representation in print of an American butterfly. Thomas Moffet was a physician, and it is believed that his daughter is the subject of the popular nursery rhyme 'Little Miss Muffet'.

Lisney 3; Nissen ZBI 2852. Bibliographical note: According to Lisney there are three variant imprints, or 'issues' of this book - the title page here corresponds to his second issue with the name of the bookseller Guiliel. [William] Hope following that of the publisher, Thomas Cotes. However, there are a number of errors in pagination, listed by Lisney, including page 48 numbered 52, which he states is corrected in the second issue (it is not corrected in this copy, nor in several others we have seen; Lisney also mentions copies of the first issue with the error corrected). There is also a ten digit jump where page 286 is numbered 296 without any corresponding break in the text, an error which then continues to the end of the volume.

Condition

Sm. folio, recased in orig. mottled calf boards, rebacked in matching style, raised bands, leather title pieces, marbled endpaper. Minor wear to corners of boards. Occasional light browning/foxing, but this is less than often found with this work. Final page just cropped at outer edge with slight loss to two figures. Bookplates of two previous owners to endpapers.