Album of drawings of English moths, butterflies, flowers, and mollusks, 1805-1822
- Title(s):
- Album of drawings of English moths, butterflies, flowers, and mollusks.
- Published/Created:
- Great Britain, 1805-1822.
- Physical Description:
- 1 volume (65 leaves, rectos only) ; 20 cm.
- Holdings:
- Rare Books and ManuscriptsQL555.G7 A43 1805Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund[Request]
- Copyright Status:
- Copyright Undetermined
- Full Orbis Record:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/8818796
- Classification:
- Drawings & Watercolors
- Notes:
- Inscribed: Mrs. B. Lewis, Trelawney, Llangrove, Ross on Wye.
Text is written in pen and black ink or red ink. Illustrations in pen-and-ink and watercolor.
Bound in half calf with marbled boards.
Of green leaf, bird, and flower: artists' books and the natural world, p. 142
A facsimile of the volume is also available.
Album of detailed colored drawings of English moths, butterflies, flowers, and mollusks, by an unidentified collector. The first part of the album, 45 leaves, illustrates many specimens of moths and butterflies, with a different species on every page. The drawings are detailed, reproducing the intricate patterns of butterfly wings and caterpillar segments. In most cases, a specimen of moth or butterfly is depicted in the habitat of the flower or plant in which it is commonly found. Species are shown at various points in the four-stage lifecycle, including egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), and adult moth or butterfly. All of the illustrations are in pen-and-ink, with many colors of wash. In some cases, the moth or butterfly has been illustrated on a separate piece of paper, closely trimmed and pasted in to the album. All of the Lepidoptera (and many of the plants) are identified with their English names, some with Latin names as well. Most have short descriptive annotations, which sometimes include the date and location where the specimen was seen or collected (most frequently Malvern), along with the collector's initials, S.E. The entry for the Poplar Hawk-moth, for example, notes that it "came out of a pupa (which had lain all winter on sand) at Blackloft Grange. July the 4th, 1805, S.E.". Interspersed near the end of this part are two graphite drawings of Land's End and one of Mont Saint-Michel, along with a page of text about the geography of Land's End.
The second part of the album, 18 leaves written and illustrated in the same hand as the first part, consists of excerpts copied from Samuel Brookes's An introduction to the study of conchology (London, 1815). It illustrates 24 genera of mollusks, each with a drawing in pen-and-ink and watercolor. Latin names are given for each, and some have short descriptions. The final leaf of this part bears the text of "The Nautilus", a poem by Catherine Ann Dorset. - Subject Terms:
- Botany -- Great Britain -- Pictorial works.Brookes, Samuel, d. 1838 or 9. Introduction to the study of conchology.Butterflies -- Great Britain -- Pictorial works.Caterpillars -- Great Britain -- Pictorial works.Entomology -- Great Britain -- Pictorial works.Land's End (England)Lepidoptera -- Great Britain -- Pictorial works.Lewis, B., Mrs. -- Autograph.Mollusks -- Great Britain -- Pictorial works.Moths -- Great Britain -- Pictorial works.
- Form/Genre:
- Botanical illustrations.
Scientific illustrations.
Graphite drawings.
Ink drawings.
Watercolors.
Sketchbooks. - Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
"Of Green Leaf, Bird, and Flower" : Artists' Books and the Natural World (Yale Center for British Art, May 15, 2014-August 10, 2014) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]
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