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HARRIS, Moses (1730-c.1788). The Aurelian: or Natural History of English Insects; namely, Moths and Butterflies. London: for the author, 1766.
2° (445 x 280mm). Engraved frontispiece with portrait of the author in a landscape, title with engraved vignette and 41 hand-coloured engraved plates, additional manuscript index at end. (Plate 36 with small marginal tear, occasional soiling and staining, some spotting, few small marginal tears.) Mid 20th-century brown half morocco, gilt spine, top edge blue, others red (lightly rubbed). Provenance: purchased by the Royal Instituion on 7 May 1806 for £4 14s 6d from Kings.
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, by ‘one of the most outstanding authors of entomological literature during the eighteenth century’ (Lisney). Harris drew from live specimens and his plates are amongst the most beautiful of their kind, showing dorsal and ventral views of all the subjects, together with various stages of development (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis), each with their preferred food. Originally issued in fascicules, first issues of the first edition contain the first few numbers as originally issued (but without covers), identified by their smaller sheet size. This copy contains two text leaves (B1-2) and plate II on shorter leaves suggesting that it has significant elements of the first issue but the state is unclear: plate XVII is in second state and plate XXXV in first state. The errors in pagination are corrected in ink. Lisney 229; Nissen ZBI 1835.
2° (445 x 280mm). Engraved frontispiece with portrait of the author in a landscape, title with engraved vignette and 41 hand-coloured engraved plates, additional manuscript index at end. (Plate 36 with small marginal tear, occasional soiling and staining, some spotting, few small marginal tears.) Mid 20th-century brown half morocco, gilt spine, top edge blue, others red (lightly rubbed). Provenance: purchased by the Royal Instituion on 7 May 1806 for £4 14s 6d from Kings.
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, by ‘one of the most outstanding authors of entomological literature during the eighteenth century’ (Lisney). Harris drew from live specimens and his plates are amongst the most beautiful of their kind, showing dorsal and ventral views of all the subjects, together with various stages of development (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis), each with their preferred food. Originally issued in fascicules, first issues of the first edition contain the first few numbers as originally issued (but without covers), identified by their smaller sheet size. This copy contains two text leaves (B1-2) and plate II on shorter leaves suggesting that it has significant elements of the first issue but the state is unclear: plate XVII is in second state and plate XXXV in first state. The errors in pagination are corrected in ink. Lisney 229; Nissen ZBI 1835.
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