Search Results: Entomology/Insects from E C Books

London: Frederick Warne & Co., Ltd, 1959 A very good 2 volume set of British Beetles in good dust wrappers. Bindings are bright and clean with gilt titles and beetle to front boards. Vol I has a small cloth crease to the middle of both boards; Vol II has a small cloth crease in the middle of the back board. Page edges marbled. Vol I has decorative endpapers and Vol II plain endpapers - both with an ownership signature to the fep. Vol I: First Series with 19 colour and 20 black and white plates, 300 pp with 4 plain pages for notes at the rear. Couple of tiny holes at the front endpaper joint and small repaired edge tear at the top of p 189. Contents very clean. Vol II: Second Series with 44 colour and 43 black and white plates, 295 pp. Very clean internally; light stain at the foredge. Wrappers are price clipped with a price sticker of £2.00 at the front flap. Both have light edgewear and slight loss at folds and spine ends with repair, and some surface scuffing down the folds. The wrap to Vol II has… Read More

London: Wm S Orr & Co.,, 1849 A good copy of the 2nd Edition in 2 volumes, in contemporary half leather bindings with 124 hand coloured plates by H Noel Humphreys. The bindings are half morocco leather with marbled boards. The spines have raised bands with gilt compartments and gilt titles. All page edges gilt. The bindings are sound, but with a lot of scuffing, particularly to the marbling, and wear - most obvious to the corners. Vol I has an armorial bookplate to the front pastedown with the initials GTL and a bookplate of Sir Arthur Clay to the fep. There is a small round stamp of Hendon Public Libraries to the title pages of both volumes and both have a library marking to the verso of the title. Both volumes are complete: Vol I: title page; plate list; preface; text with errata and corrigenda, index and alphabetical list 258pp with 56 plates. Vol II: title page; plate list; text with addenda and corrigenda and alphabetical list 268pp with 68 plates. Hendon Libraries have been relatively modest in… Read More

London : J Johnson , 1806 A very good copy of Vol III of this scarce work by William Holloway, in full leather binding with contemporary blind stamped boards and newer spine. The British Museum .. was issued in 4 volumes and this volume is complete in itself, and covers fish and insects. It contains a colour frontispiece and 22 further hand coloured plates of fish, and 10 hand coloured plates of insects. It lacks the engraved title page and, according to the copy held by Harvard University, lacks the plate of a swallow tail. We have not been able to find consistent collations of this work. The binding is in very good clean condition with light wear and scuffing to the boards. There is an armorial bookplate with the name Haughton and the motto 'maigre le fort' to the front pastedown. There is the signature of James Haughton dated 1810 to the title, together with a part signature - Heard - dated 1884. Contents: frontispiece, title, contents list pp vi; fish - text 1-143 with 22 plates; insects… Read More

LONDON : L Reeve & Co., 1871 This is part of Lovell Reeve's crown octavo series of popular natural history for beginners and amateurs. The preface starts 'this little work is planned on the supposition that the reader knows nothing scientifically of the insect world....'. So the book gives some basics and then gets on to helping the reader identify the range of insects they might encounter. It is in the original blue decorative cloth binding with a gilt picture to the front board and gilt titles on the spine. The book has had a good cloth case repair - relaying the spine so the binding is sound and tight if slightly grubby and faded/darkened on the spine. The endpapers are new. It has 16 coloured plates as called for and numerous illustrations in the text. There is some brown spotting on the text but this does not generally affect the plates which are bright and clear.

LONDON: L REEVE & CO., 1884 Plate volume only. In half leather binding with morocco leather and marbled boards. With 82 finely engraved colour printed plates of butterflies, caterpillars and their food plants. The binding has raised bands to the spine and gilt decoration and titles. It has some scuffing to the spine and wear, and wear to corners, removing the top surface of the leather. With matching marbled endpapers. The front pastedown endpaper has a small hole. The contents have some brown spotting - this mainly affects the initial leaves and early plates, but there is occasional spotting later on. The plates are not tissue guarded so there is some offsetting to the reverse of the preceding plate page. Page edges have browning.

London and New York: Frederick Warne & Co., Ltd, 1939 A near fine copy of the 1st edition in good wrapper. This work was designed to act as a field guide - taking key points from Richard South's three Wayside and Woodland publications: butterflies and moths - series I and II. There are some blank leaves at the end of the book for field notes and it is conveniently pocket-sized. The jacket has been price-clipped and has some edge nibbling - principally around the spine and the bottom edge at the front close to the spine, where there is loss. It has had repair and some reinforcement with archive repair tape. It is in a removable protective wrap. The blue cloth binding is very bright and clean with very slight pulling to the spine. Contents near fine clean condition.

LONDON: Printed and Sold by J. Raw, and Sold also by Longman Rees & Co. and G.B. Whittaker, 1827, 1827 Second, 'enlarged' edition of the only work written by Laetitia Ford, nee Jermyn first published in 1824. Laetitia's father was a bookseller in Ipswich. Extremely scarce. She was allowed by her family to foster an interest in butterflies (at a time when women were not supposed to have serious occupations) and was greatly encouraged by her neighbour, the Revd William Kirby of Barham. This copy is complete in a plain board binding with 2 hand coloured and 3 plain plates. Laetitia drew the plates and dedicated the work to Kirby. The binding is serviceable but slightly stained and with a slight split on the spine. The contents are uncut so page sizes vary. One colour plate is stained and there is occasional spotting to preliminaries. Small light book, please enquire if you would like us to assess postage at cost.

LONDON : Whittaker, Treacher, & Co., 1832 A good copy of Class Insecta in 2 volumes - parts XIV and XV of the 16 volume series of 'The Animal Kingdom arranged in conformity with its organization by the Baron Cuvier,' translated and written by Edward Griffith and others. The set is complete in itself with 136 black and white and 4 colour plates. The series was issued in 3 formats and this is the rarer quarto version. The volumes have been rebound in maroon buckram cloth with gilt titles to spine and 'Foyle' printed at the spine base. The bindings are clean and bright with general light wear to spine ends and some darkened areas to the spines. Vol 1 of the set has bumping to bottom corners and turning to the top corners. There is a cloth crease towards the bottom corner of the front board. Vol 2 has bumping to top corners and turning to bottom corners. There is some scuffing to the back board. Internally both have newer endpapers. Each volume has 2 title pages (series and volume) and both have the… Read More

London: S Smith, 1685 A very good copy of Goedart's work on insect metamorphosis, edited by M Lister, who added an appendix. First edition in this form. Johannes Goedart set up, observed and documented a series of experiments which demonstrated that caterpillars, pupae and butterflies were not different animals, but forms of the same animal. His works were first available in translated form in 1662/7. M Lister edited Goedart's work for the Royal Society and added an appendix on marine life. This copy has been rebound with cloth spine with title label, and marbled boards. The binding is in fine condition. New endpapers. Contents: title page 1685; lectori 5pp; 1 plate; text pp 1-356 with 13 plates; title page Appendices.. 1685; introduction 2pp; text pp 1-45 with 7 plates; finis. Overall in very good clean condition. There is a small ink mark to the top of p51; small paper flaw p80; slight crease to the top of plate @p134; plate @p206 has been bound in upside down; small tear to bottom margin p243.

London: William Blackwood, 1834 A good copy of this extremely scarce work. In the original plain cloth binding with paper labels to spine. The binding is sound but with wear at the spine and general discolouration and some cloth bubbling. Light indentation to sides of boards ? from being bound in string bundle. Internally has title page with blind stamp of University of Aberdeen Natural History Dept; 2 plain plates; errata and text including Addenda, Notes and Index 351pp. Probably lacking half title. The endpapers are very spotty and the text pages have light toning - more so at the beginning of the work. However, some text is unopened and it is in very clean condition.

London: George Samouelle, 1841 A good copy of the 2nd edition in 2 volumes in buckram cloth bindings, with 156 hand coloured plates from drawings by the author. George Samouelle was employed as a Keeper at the British Museum in the entomology collections for 19 years. He is best known for his Entomologist's Useful Compendium (which he later expanded and republished under a different title). The work was much used and commended by other well known entomologists such as John Curtis and William Spence. The Entomological Cabinet was issued in parts (a way of raising income for publication) with work on it starting in 1829. The first edition was published in 1833/34. There were plans for a second issue - but there was not enough interest. The 2 parts that were issued were incorporated in the second edition. The bindings are clean and sound - they are not recent, but they are not contemporary. Each has gilt titles to the spine. There is light rubbing mainly on the boards next to the spine and towards the… Read More

Amsterdam: Joannem Jacobi fil. Schipper, 1657 A fair copy of the extremely scarce Insectis section of Jan Jonston's famous work Historiae Naturalis. Jonston (1603-1675) studied botany and medicine and was a doctor. This copy is classed as 'fair' because it has been rebound in plain buckram binding without the title page, and the paper is very soft and lightly stained to the bottom outer corner margin. Contents are otherwise complete with 28 full page plates. The binding is clean and sound with gilt titles to spine. Contents: new endpapers; dedication 1p; Preface with plate list 3pp; Referenda ad pagninam 2pp with Plate I; text liber I pp 1-84; liber II 85-128; liber III 129-138; liber IV 139-147 with 27 further plates placed with relevant text; index 1p. Interestingly the final section includes starfish and seahorses. The contents are in very good clean condition apart from the paper damage mentioned above which has resulted in crumbling to the bottom corner of the dedication and preface leaf.

London: Baldwin and Cradock, 1828 A good copy of Mandibulata Vol I of this 12 volume work. Complete with 9 hand coloured plates by Curtis and Westwood as called for. Stephens (1792-1852) was a leading entomologist and founder member of the Royal Entomological Society of London. The contemporary binding is green half leather with marbled boards. Spine with gilt titles and gilt lines. Page edges are untrimmed. The binding is sound but with scuffing and wear to edges and corners. There is an ink signature to the fep. Contents: title page 1828; introduction 2pp; text pp 1-184; index 2pp; plate index; errata. With 9 plates. There is some offsetting to the text, a little pencil annotation and a couple of ink underlinings. Occasional spotting. A scarce work

Londini: Ex officina typographica Thom. Cotes, 1634 A fair copy of the first printing of Insectorum Theatrum, classed as 'fair' because the title page and final plate page are in facsimile. The title page is that of the 3rd issue with a single printer named, but the book itself is 1st issue with page numbering at p 48 corrected in manuscript. This work was the first book on entomology to be published in Britain, and, although credited largely to Thomas Moffet (1553-1604), began as part of Conrad Gesner's researches in the mid 1500's. Thomas Penny and Caspar Wolf continued the work after Gesner's death, and Moffet, who was a neighbour and friend of Penny's, rescued the manuscript after Penny's death. It was finally published after Moffet's death by Theodore Mayerne (cf Lisney - Bibliography of British Lepidoptera). This copy has contemporary boards, rebacked with a newer spine and title label. The binding is in very good clean condition: there is wear to the boards but… Read More

London : J Johnson, 1795 A very good copy of this scarce title, with 46 superb hand coloured plates. William Lewin (1747-1795) intended this work to be the first volume of 'The Insects of Great Britain' series. However he died in 1795 with only this volume completed. This is the rare first issue which has the series title page and ends 'End of Volume I'. The second issue amends the title to the 'Papilios of Great Britain' making it stand-alone. This copy is a later half vellum binding with blind stamped decoration to the buckram boards. Page edges have light marbling and the endpapers are marbled. The binding is in very good condition. There is corner wear particularly to the bottom corners, which are bumped with leather loss. Contents: title pages in French and English; half title page 'The insects of Great Britain'; text in French and English with 46 hand coloured plates; index 3pp. There are 2 mispaginations: plate 6 with text is placed after plates 7 and 8; and… Read More

EDINBURGH: W H Lizars, S Highley et al, 1840 A very good copy of the first edition in the original publisher's cloth binding, which has been rebacked relaying the spine. With volume listing; half title; black and white frontispiece portrait of Baron de Geer; hand coloured vignette title page of insects; 2 further title pages; publisher's advert (unopened); contents listing; Memoir of Swammerdam; Memoir of De Geer; text with black and white illustrations; and 36 plates bound at the rear of which 32 are hand coloured. The plates are numbered to 35, but there is a plate 12*. The binding is sound and tight and the rebacked spine has bright gilt titles. The boards are very faded at the edges. Corners with light wear. The original green endpapers are present with professional repair at the joints. The text paper is toned with the occasional light mark or spot. Some text is unopened. The plates are tissue-guarded and are very clean and well coloured. There is some offsetting to guards.

LONDON: L REEVE & CO., 1878 Parts III, IV and V of this rare work as issued in the publisher's paper wraps. With 24 (8 per part) colour printed plates from drawings by Eleonora Wilson. The whole work has 40 plates. Part III has pages 113-176, IV 177-240, and V 241-367 including the index to the whole work and with a publisher's catalogue. The text pages are largely unopened. The wraps are understandably worn and the wrap for part V is disintegrating. Internally there is some initial spotting to the first text page or so in each part but otherwise it is clean. The plates are clean and bright. Part III is dated 1878, and Parts IV and V 1879. An interesting insight into how the work was published.

London: L Reeve & Co.,, 1880 A very good copy of the 1st edition in the original cloth binding with 40 colour printed plates. The binding has the gilt Lovell Reeve design to the front board and gilt titles to the spine. It is slightly shaken (stitching visible internally at pp 65 and 192) with wear to edges and to corners. The original floral design endpapers are present - there is a small hole at the front endpaper joint and both free endpapers are slightly browned. Contents: half title; frontispiece; title page; description of the illustrations and introduction xxvii; text pp 1-323; index 324-344; times of appearance 345-357; additions and corrections 358; index 359-367. Contents in very good clean condition. All the plates are tissue-guarded. There is the very occasional mark, and light toning at the page edges.

Middelburgh: Jacques Fierens, Boeck-verkooper, inde Globe, 1662 A rare 1st edition copy of the first part of Johannes Goedaert's 3 part work on the development and metamorphosis of insects. This copy lacks the decorative title page but is otherwise complete with 63 pages of hand coloured plates. It has been collated against the 1662 copy held by the Getty Research Institute Library and matches apart from having 5 letters to the tie 5 pages from the Encomium - Getty has 3 letters. Goedaert (1617-1668) was born and lived in Middelburgh and was a painter and a naturalist - being one of the earliest to study entomology. His 3 part Metamorphosis (parts 2 and 3 published in 1667 and 1669) was the product of extensive fieldwork to collect live specimens, and detailed observation and recording of how they developed. The work was ground breaking and quickly translated from the original Dutch into French and Latin. This copy is newer brown cloth with title label and publication note in gilt. It is very clean… Read More

EDINBURGH: W H LIZARS, 1836 A very good copy of the 1st edition of British Moths in the original publisher's cloth binding. With listing of the Naturalist's Library; half title; black and white engraved frontispiece of Madame Merian; black and white vignette title page - showing 2 cherubs chasing butterflies; 2 further title pages; an advert; contents listing; Memoir of Maria Sibilla Merian; text with 30 hand coloured plates bound in; and a 4 page publisher's catalogue (for Simpkin Marshall) at the rear. The binding has been rebacked and the contents restitched so the book is sound and tight. The original spine, which is lightly sunned has been relaid. The boards have sunning to the edges which have a number of slight indentations. Corners turned inwards. The original green endpapers are present with professional repair to the joints. Contents are clean with light toning towards the edges of text and plate paper. There is the occasional small mark or spot to the text pages, and some corners have been… Read More