InsectNet forum

Hello again,

On another thread 58Chevy said that "They don't make books like that any more." referring to Berge's 1910 magnum opus. I only partially agree... I did a quick visual inspection of my entomological library & came up with some other books that have really beautiful hand drawn & colored plates. Some are, of course, modern day reproductions as the original, antique books are simply unattainable (cost & rarity). I wish someone would have given me a list like that, that follows, back in the early 2000's, when I first went online. It would have saved me a lot of time "separating the wheat from the chaff"! Hope this is helpful...

1.) "Maria Sibylla Merian - Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium - 1705"; HC; 200 pgs., 14.5" x 21.5" x 1" weighing around 10 lbs! This is the largest book in my collection. It is written by 15 different authors & was published in the Netherlands in 2017. MSM (1647-1717) was a famous German woman naturalist/entomologist/illustrator who spent a decade down in Suriname, S. Am.. studying & painting insects & associated plants. All of her beautiful plates are reproduced full size in this huge book. There are similar MSM books out there, but none match this mammoth volume in the extremely detailed account of her life or in the size of her plate reproductions. The book is also written in side-by-side German & English texts with updated scientific names of all the insects illustrated. It also comes in a heavy, matching slip case; price was also surprisingly reasonable for a book this size. 5-STARS

2.)"The Butterflies of North America - Titan Peale's Lost Manuscript"; HC; 255 pgs. 8.5" x 11" x 1.25"; by Ellen V. Futter, David A. Grimaldi, Kenneth Haltman; Recently published date unknown, Contains modern reproductions of TP's wonderful, colored drawings & plates which were produced over a 50 yr. span & were intended to be published, but... never were... until now. Titan Ramsay Peale was born into a family of artists & had a hand in the founding of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. 5-STARS

3.)"Ernst Haeckel - Art Forms in Nature" SC; 2017; 139 pgs., 9.5" x 12" x .5"; by Olaf Breidbach, Irenaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Richard Hartman. Has 100 stunning, full page, B. & W. & color reproductions of undersea life, corals, plants, insects, birds, etc. His absolutely intricate B. & W. plates of Microscopic Diatoms is, IMPO, unequalled to this day! I currently have 14 of his plates hanging on my wall. E. H. was a famous German naturalist, zoologist artist (1834-1919). 5-STARS

4.)"Seguy's Decorative Butterflies & Insects in Full Color"; SC; 1977; 42 pgs.; 9.5" x 12" x .25"; 193 illustrations on 40 full page plates by E. A. Seguy (1890-1995). E.A.S. was a French artist & designer who was active in the Art Deco & Art Nouveau movements of the 1920's. He created beautiful, very colorful & scientifically accurate insect designs, originally for textiles, using a special stenciling technique. No surprise... I have 9 of his truly beautiful prints on my walls as well! 5-STARS

5.)"Insects of the World"; HC; 1972; 392 pgs., 8.75" x 11.5" x 2"; by Walter Linsenmaier (1917-2000). W. L. was a Swiss artist & entomologist (born in Germany) who was famous for his very detailed color illustrations of insects, plants & animals. I've had a copy of his book for more than 3 decades... I actually have 3 copies now... even a French edition!... WHY?...just for the heck of it... I love his book so much! Highly recommended as this fascinating book has a combination of beautifully drawn/colored illustrations & nice photo plates of insects with all the complete scientific names included in the back of the book. The text is also very detailed & well written with every insect order covered. A Big 5-STARS!

6.)"Butterflies of the World"; HC; 312 pgs., 8.5" x 11.5" x 1.25"; by Valerio Sbordoni, Saverio Forestiero. This beautiful book was written by 2 Italian entomologists in 1984 & was translated to English in 1985... my copy was published in 1998. This book has full page, after full page, of wonderful hand drawn, colored butterfly plates, with the scientific names, handily on the immediate facing pages. The detailed text is very informative of all aspects of butterfly life. 5-STARS

7.)"Wings of Paradise - The Great Saturniid Moths"; HC; 1996; 163 pgs., 9.5" x 12.25" x .75"; by John Cody (Born? Died 2016). J. C. is referred to as the "Audubon of Moths". He was a psychiatrist from Kansas, by profession, & spent his spare time travelling the world studying & painting the Great Silk Moths. His book contains 72 full page, colorful paintings. This wonderful book is obviously a lifetime work of love... 5-STARS

8.)"Bernard Durin - Beetles & other Insects"; HC; 1980; 138 pgs., 11.5" x 13" x .75"; by Gerhard Scherer, Michael Balke. B. D. was a French artist (1910-1988) who drew & painted 60 incredibly beautiful, meticulously detailed insect portraits, that are famous worldwide. ... & Yes! I also have 3 of his drawings on my walls! Highly Recommended 5-STARS

9.)"The Oxford Book of Insects"; HC; 1968; 207 pgs; 7.25" x 9.75" x .75"; by John Burton; illustrated by Joyce Dee, Derek Whitley, Peter Parks. This book will probably be of more interest to artistic, English bug enthusiasts, as it only covers England's insects. Having said that, however, this is quite an amazing little book as nearly every second page is a multi specimen, hand drawn, very nice, colored plate covering all the insect orders. 5-STARS

10.)"The Butterflies of North America"; HC; 1975; 633 pgs., 7.5" x 10.5" x 2"; illustrated by William Howe (1928-2009) with 20 other well known contributors, to the text, for the individual butterfly families. This big book has 97 very nice, full page, hand drawn, colored plates by W. H.. The patience, time & skill/talent involved by W. H. to draw all those plates is amazing. Some of the plates have as many as 40 specimens depicted with half upper/half lower views! If you are a "splitter" you will like this book!... Many, many ssp. are covered (not all, obviously, are recognized today)... nevertheless this is one impressive volume. 5-STARS

11.)"Varieties of British Butterflies"; HC; 1938; 199 pgs., 7.5" x 10" x 1"; by F. W. Frohawk (1861-1946) with 48, full page, hand drawn, colored plates. A famous English lepidopterist, artist & author (with 2 other butterfly books in 1924 & 1934) who was associated with Lord Walter Rothschild... F. W. F. had to sell his butterfly collection to Rothschild due to financial difficulties. The subtitle for this book is " A Selection of Rare & Interesting Specimens of Aberrations, including Gynandromorphic & Homoeotic Forms; Albinism & Melanism" For those interested in unusual, out-of-the-ordinary butterflies (like myself!) this book is essential, but may be hard to locate due to its age. 5-STARS

12.)"F. W. Frohawk - His Life & Work"; HC; 1987; 184 pgs.; 7.75" x 10" x 1"; by June Chatfield; Extremely interesting & detailed biography of F. W. F. with tons of color & B. & W. illustrations & vintage photos. Frohawk drew animals, birds & butterflies all equally well; Highly recommended 5-STARS

13.)"Aberrations of British Butterflies"; HC; 1978; 151 pgs.; 7.5" x 10,25" x 1"; by A. D. A. Russwurm with 40 hand drawn, colored plates by the author. This is really an update to Frohawk's 1938 book mentioned earlier. The plates in this newer book are extremely detailed & yes... beautiful! Interesting text as well. 5-STARS

14.)"Beetles"; HC; 1981; 213 pgs.; 9.75" x 11" x 1"; by Bernhard Klausnitzer. This is one of my favorite books... it has many nice hand drawn B. & W. illustrations & numerous full page photo & color plates. 5-STARS

That's all... John K.

Lucky enough to own a few of those books John.
Of particular interest is my copy of " F.W. Frohawk- His Life & Work." which is signed by the author & Frohawk's daughter Valezina. Valezina is a name familiar to British lepidopterists as it was given to the dark grey form of the female Silver Washed Fritillary(Argynnis paphia) which Frohawk named his daughter after. The typical form is orange. A photo of the title page of my book along with a few examples of A. paphia form valezina
(including an abberation) & a typical pair from my collection.

Boghaunter, please show us some plates from the books you mentioned.

Here are some illustrations by Walter Linsenmaier (1917 - 2000), which I believe have not been published in books.

Old books and plates are wonderful to see. Photos aren't everything.
I have some of Haekel's plates as well, amazing artwork in these older books.
Wishing I had more wall space.

Hello 58chevy,

The intention, in my list of books that I posted, is to act as a starting point for those interested in getting their own copies. I already spent a lot of time picking out these books (out of several hundred entomology books), carefully giving the individual specifications for each book, researching the authors, relaying interesting facts on each book, etc.. Most of these books are still available online (Abebooksbooks.com, Ebay, etc., etc...); please do some of your own research as there is much more info available online (including prices, photos of individual books, plates, etc... Shop around...). For me to take, say 3 photos of each book, x 14 books, = 42 individual photos to take, resize & upload. It would require a lot more time than I am willing to spend... plus, why waste this website's resources (money to post all those photos), as lately I have been regularly getting "Resource Limit Met Messages" for this website. I stand by my 5-STAR ratings for all of these books carefully gathered over the last 3 decades plus. These books ALL have really beautiful plates. Again there is lots of additional info, prices, photos, etc. of these books readily available online... please check them out... you can often get a really good deal on some of these books (more modern ones) as they are only of interest to a limited, minute sliver of the general population... bug enthusiasts!

John K.

Most of the old, extremely rare and expensive books can be studied and downloaded online here: https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/

hewi wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2024 3:39 pm Here are some illustrations by Walter Linsenmaier (1917 - 2000), which I believe have not been published in books...

Many thanks. I was just about to make mention of Linsenmaier; whose illustrations are superbly detailed, and his "Insects of the World" is a notable volume very much worth having! I also have a much smaller book (42 pages) that he illustrated ("Butterflies and Moths") (1964), which is part of the Odyssey Library series. It's not so much a pocket guide, but a basic introduction to Lepidoptera.