The Butterflies and Moths of Tenerife (1894)

Description:

A facsimile edition of this scarce and delightful work, first published by L. Reeve in 1894, written and produced by Agnes Holt White and with editorial input from her husband. It is very much a book of its time, and to modern readers utterly charming and delightful. It was written largely for the benefit of the Victorian butterfly collectors that came to spend time, largely in the winter months, at the old town of La Orotava above the northern coast of Tenerife and who would make excursions all over the island, to the almost 3,718 metre peak of Mount Teide, to the laurel "rainforest" of Anaga in the north, and to the almost permanently sun-bathed southern and eastern coastal strips. Butterfly (and moth) collection would often feature highly in these excursions. Each species is described in some detail, in a style of its time, and an introductory section examines the differences between butterflies and moths and give detailed information about collecting and setting and storing techniques with charming advice about making friends with a good muleteer for excursions, warnings about the 'muchachos' (local boys) who would swarm around foreign visitors trying to sell them specimens, generally badly damaged through mishandling, of butterflies for them to take home as souvenirs of Tenerife were they not minded to go out and collect their own. It also includes information about the possibilities of buying butterfly collecting equipment locally, or at least the chances of purchasing in La Orotava the necessary material for making nets and suchlike. Mrs Holt White also describes the best type of collecting locality in Tenerife (ravines and broken ground on the northern slopes of El Teide and in the northern mountains of Anaga).These sites remain today, incidentally, among the best spots for observing and photographing butterflies on the island.

The book includes four sumptuous colour plates containing exquisite watercolour paintings of butterflies and moths made by Agnes Holt White. One of these is further reproduced on the cover of this high-quality facsimile. Originals of the book are now very hard to find in any condition, and almost impossibly so in near-perfect state.