Description

Butterflies.- Wilkes (Benjamin) One Hundred and Twenty Copper-Plates of English Moths and Butterflies, second edition, list of subscribers,120 exquisite hand-coloured plates, plate XIV trimmed at lower edge into plate-mark, occasional light offsetting, a couple of spots, small hole in index leaf at end but no loss of text, contemporary green straight-grain morocco, elaborately stamped in gilt and blind, slightly faded, extremities very slightly rubbed, g.e., 4to, [Nissen 4410a], for Benjamin White, 1773.

⁂ A lovely copy of this beautiful work with the plates depicting butterflies and moths against extensive backgrounds of plants, these plants after drawings by Ehret and van Huysum. The short 2pp. list of subscribers includes Joseph Dandridge (who gave Wilkes open access to his private collection of entomological specimens), Dr Christopher Jacob Trew (who died 4 years before the book was published), and Sir Hans Sloane (who likewise had died some 20 years earlier). This would suggest that the list was perhaps gleaned from the original edition, which had appeared in 1747-49.

Lot 132

Butterflies.- Wilkes (Benjamin) One Hundred and Twenty Copper-Plates of English Moths and Butterflies, second edition, for Benjamin White, 1773.  

Hammer Price: £4,800

Description

Butterflies.- Wilkes (Benjamin) One Hundred and Twenty Copper-Plates of English Moths and Butterflies, second edition, list of subscribers,120 exquisite hand-coloured plates, plate XIV trimmed at lower edge into plate-mark, occasional light offsetting, a couple of spots, small hole in index leaf at end but no loss of text, contemporary green straight-grain morocco, elaborately stamped in gilt and blind, slightly faded, extremities very slightly rubbed, g.e., 4to, [Nissen 4410a], for Benjamin White, 1773.

⁂ A lovely copy of this beautiful work with the plates depicting butterflies and moths against extensive backgrounds of plants, these plants after drawings by Ehret and van Huysum. The short 2pp. list of subscribers includes Joseph Dandridge (who gave Wilkes open access to his private collection of entomological specimens), Dr Christopher Jacob Trew (who died 4 years before the book was published), and Sir Hans Sloane (who likewise had died some 20 years earlier). This would suggest that the list was perhaps gleaned from the original edition, which had appeared in 1747-49.

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