WESTWOOD, John Obadiah (1805-1893)

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£ 1 260
Auction dateClassic
12.07.2023 00:00UTC +01:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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ID 993331
Lot 230 | WESTWOOD, John Obadiah (1805-1893)
WESTWOOD, John Obadiah (1805-1893)

The Cabinet of Oriental Entomology. London: William Smith, [1847-]1848.

First edition, original published in 14 parts, it is the only work by Woodward to deal with exotic species of large butterflies and other insects. As Westwood points out in his preface, in 1847 there were ‘no works expressly devoted to the Insects of India, except the single volume published by Mr. Donovan [An Epitome of the Natural History of the Insects of India], nearly fifty years ago’. A surprising state of affairs when ‘our cabinets, owing to the zeal with which this branch of Zoology is pursued by many Entomologists in those regions, teem with novelties which would alone form the materials of many volumes’. He goes on to point out that the present work is intended as ‘a pictorial illustration of the larger and more splendid species’ in an attempt to attract attention in ‘the Indian drawing-room’ and persuade more people in India to take up entomology. Nissen ZBI 4378.



Quarto (285 x 217mm). 41 (of 42) hand-coloured lithographic plates, some heightened with gum arabic, after Westwood (lacking plate 40, occasional finger-soiling, overall plates clean and fresh). Original moiré green cloth by Edmonds & Remnants (with their ticket) covers bordered in blind, upper cover with design with insects and floral motifs in gilt, lower cover with design repeated in blind, flat spine gilt with insects and title, yellow endpapers (extremities rubbed, corners bumped, covers with some scattered staining and head and foot of spine worn, with joint starting to split, partial sticker to foot of spine). Provenance: Anne Wilson, Wandsworth Common, April 1856 (pencil inscription on upper pastedown).





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