The Genera Insectorum of Linnaeus Exemplified by various specimens of English Insects drawn from Nature / Les Genres des Insectes de Linne…

Description:

Parallel English / French text. Engraved title in English, printed title in French. Fine hand-coloured plates by the author, engraved by James Newton. James Barbut (fl. 1776-1799), English naturalist and artist, published this work with the support of an impressive circle of patrons and acquaintances. The list of some one hundred subscribers offers a glimpse into his connections, including Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society; John Francillon (1744-1816), the eminent scholar and collector; and distinguished figures of the aristocracy such as Margaret Cavendish Bentinck, Dowager Duchess of Portland (1715-1785).

In his Preface, Barbut acknowledges his debt to Carl Linnaeus and other authorities, notably the French entomologist Étienne Louis Geoffroy (1725-1810) and Thomas Pattinson Yeats, author of Institutions of Entomology (1773). The book also includes his own observations, for example his vivid description of a spider’s web stretched across the wooden railing in St. James’s Park, London opposite the Horse Guards, and the ensuing struggle between the spider and a trapped fly.

The plates were engraved by James Newton (1748-c.1804), a student of the Royal Academy and accomplished illustrator, after drawings by Barbut. The striking frontispiece depicts an allegorical garden scene in the neoclassical taste of the late 18th century: a columned temple rises within a landscaped park, with a lake and arched bridge beyond, while the foreground teems with butterflies, moths, and other insects in flight. The composition frames the study of insects within an idealized vision of harmony between nature, art, and learning, an Enlightenment garden where science and beauty are inseparably joined.

Horn-Schenkling 757; Nissen ZBI 220.

Condition

4to, later (20th century) full blue morocco, craft binding by Barbara Staempfli, double gilt fillet borders to both covers, enclosing, on upper cover, centre panel with onlaid purple morocco border and diagonal and border rules in gilt, minor rubbing to extremities, some fading, marbled endpapers. Fine binding. Plates clean and well-coloured. Occasional light offsetting and spotting. Very good.

Provenance: Two bookplates, that of Dr. George William Staempfli (1910-1999), noted art dealer and founder of the Staempfli Gallery, New York (est. 1959), which specialized in modern European and American art, exhibiting works by Salvador Dali, Paul Delvaux, David Park, Elmer Bischoff, Joan Brown, and George Ricky. Staempfli married his third wife, Barbara Dierich, later Barbara Staempfli, in 1968.

Her binding for this 18th century book exemplifies the post-war revival of craft binding with its restrained geometric ornament and interplay of gilt and onlaid morocco, reflecting a modernist sensibility.