The Aurelian, or natural history of English insects, London, 1766 [1773], calf - photo 1
The Aurelian, or natural history of English insects, London, 1766 [1773], calf - photo 2
The Aurelian, or natural history of English insects, London, 1766 [1773], calf - photo 3
The Aurelian, or natural history of English insects, London, 1766 [1773], calf - photo 4

The Aurelian, or natural history of English insects, London, 1766 [1773], calf

Sold
£ 3 556
Auction dateClassic
21.09.2023 10:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
Sotheby´s
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1026190
Lot 51 | The Aurelian, or natural history of English insects, London, 1766 [1773], calf
The Aurelian: or, natural history of British insects, namely, moths and butterflies. Together with the plants on which they feed. London: for the author, 1766 [1773]

First edition, second issue, folio (470 x 282mm.), large paper copy, engraved vignette on title-page, engraved coloured schematic plate in preliminaries, 44 hand-coloured engraved plates (the final plate dated 1773, all watermarked Villedary), final letterpress index leaf, contemporary speckled calf, single gilt fillet border, lacking frontispiece portrait, occasional light offsetting from colouring, rebacked retaining original spine, spine repaired at head and foot

A beautiful record of English butterflies and moths, incorporating all the stages of the life cycle for each, positioned on the plants on which they feed and breed. Moses Harris (1730-1787) was an accomplished artist as well as entomologist, and this work contains details of more than forty butterflies and moths, along with some beetles and dragonflies.

Plates 17 and 35 are in their first state with the original dedications (for the second state of these plates, see lot 102).
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