Butterflies.- Seitz (Adalbert, editor.) The Macrolepidoptera of the World, 20 vol. in 31, 1,458 chromolithograph plates, 21 vol. uniformly bound in original half cloth, a few vol. with light rubbing to corners, 10 vol. loose in portfolio, 4to, Stuttgart, 1909-54.

⁂ A fine, complete copy of this rare standard work on Macrolepidoptera of which no complete sets have appeared at auction.

The fine plates are made by a process of 10-14 colour lithography, and its excellent quality has remained unsurpassed. The editor, Seitz, planned to finish the whole work in 1912. This proved to be quite unrealistic and publication continued until 1954. Several volumes remained unfinished.

The most important collections of butterflies were consulted, such as that of L.W. Rothschild of Tring, the British Museum, the Paris Natural History Museum and the Senckenberg Museum at Frankfurt, as well as collections in Tokyo, Hong-Kong, Australia, South & North America etc.

The work was published in 16 volumes with 4 supplements and is composed as follows:

Volumes 1-4: Palaearctic Fauna with 4 supplements (supplement vol. 4 remained unfinished); Volumes 5-8: American Fauna (volumes 7 & 8 remained unfinished); Volumes 9-12: Indo-Australian Fauna (volumes 11 & 12 remained unfinished); Volumes 13-16: African Fauna (volumes 15 & 16 remained unfinished).