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Lot Essay
These superb drawings of entomological subjects were prepared by Fred Enock F.L.S., F.E.S (1845-1916), renowned for his exquisite preparations and mountings of microscope slides, which are said to be "arranged with a perfection which has never been equalled".
As a perfectionist he did not offer slides failing to meet his high standard for sale. In addition to slide mounting he gave lecture tours "profusely illustrated by numerous Original Drawings". Many of these drawings would have been photographed for lantern slides. His draughtsmanship for these drawings is remarkable. It was said that he would spend as much as 100 hours at a single inesct head. Some of the drawings were reproduced in Flashlights on Nature (1899) and In Nature's Workshop (1901) by Grant Allen.
Early on, Enock became interested in entomolgy and in 1865 he joined the Birmingham Natural History Society. Five years later he went to work for his uncle Edmund Wheeler, whose catalogue of microscope slides included a stock of 20,000 by 1880. Enock would later become a fellow of the Linean Society and the Entomological society, and he was elected as an honorary member of the Quekett Microscopical Club on April 23rd 1912. During the course of his life he discovered 150 new species to Britain in the Mymaridae family, but never published an indented monograph on them.
As a perfectionist he did not offer slides failing to meet his high standard for sale. In addition to slide mounting he gave lecture tours "profusely illustrated by numerous Original Drawings". Many of these drawings would have been photographed for lantern slides. His draughtsmanship for these drawings is remarkable. It was said that he would spend as much as 100 hours at a single inesct head. Some of the drawings were reproduced in Flashlights on Nature (1899) and In Nature's Workshop (1901) by Grant Allen.
Early on, Enock became interested in entomolgy and in 1865 he joined the Birmingham Natural History Society. Five years later he went to work for his uncle Edmund Wheeler, whose catalogue of microscope slides included a stock of 20,000 by 1880. Enock would later become a fellow of the Linean Society and the Entomological society, and he was elected as an honorary member of the Quekett Microscopical Club on April 23rd 1912. During the course of his life he discovered 150 new species to Britain in the Mymaridae family, but never published an indented monograph on them.