The Butterfly Collector's Vade Mecum: with a Synoptical Table of British Butterflies

Description:

3rd edition. Scarce. Laetitia Ford, née Jermyn (1788-1848), naturalist, butterfly collector and writer. Her interest in natural history was encouraged by her neighbour, Rev. William Kirby, an influential entomologist and naturalist. Today, she is chiefly known for the present work, a delightful guide book to English butterflies, which she dedicated to her mentor, W. Kirby. Her 'synoptical table' provided detailed information on larval food plants, times of appearance and localities, especially in Suffolk and Essex. Although her name is not printed on the title page, her married name, Laetitia Ford, is printed at the end of the preface (the first edition only prints her initials, L.J., after the preface) The coloured frontispiece, depicting a Swallowtail butterfly with its larva and chrysalis, is clearly shown as the work of the author herself.

Freeman 1232.

Condition

Sm. 8vo, orig. cloth (minor wear to head/foot of spine). Plain plates with water stain to bottom third. Ownership signature dated 1846 to endpaper. Vg. 16-page publisher's cataloge dated Oct., 1840, bound at rear.