Antique Butterfly lithograph with fine original hand-colour by H.N. Humphreys c1849

by Humphreys, H.N.

Euchloe Butterfly, Pieris Butterfly, Leptoria Butterfly antique print.

Insects. 1.Euchloe Cardamines (orange-tipped Butterfly), male, 2. female, 3. female, underside, 4. Caterpillar, 5. Chrysalis, 6. Pieris Daplidice (Bath white Butterfly), male, 7. female, 8. male, underside, 9. Caterpillar, 10. Chrysalis, 11. Leptoria Candida (wood-white  Butterfly), 12. Caterpillar, 13. Chrysalis.
Plants. 14. Reseda Intea (base Rocket or wild Mignonette), 15. Cardamine Pratensis (common meadow Ladies’ Smock), 16. Lathyrus pratensis (Meadow Vetchling).

Original  hand-coloured lithograph arranged and illustrated by H.N. Humphreys Esq., with characters and descriptions by J. O. Westwood, Esq. F.L.S. (secretary of the Entomological Society), for British Butterflies and their Transformations published in London c1849.

Humphreys (1810-1879), was a British naturalist, entomologist, illustrator - and numismatist. His presentation of the butterflies with caterpillar and chrysalis, impressed curators at the British Museum, who adopted this method of illustrating the transformation lifecycle of insects. Humphreys lovely engravings surely echo the exquisite medieval manuscripts he studied in Italy when a young man. He wrote: “The study of natural history is the learning of the characters with which the wonderful story of nature is written.. cannot conceive a more pleasing and natural introduction to its general study than entomology, of which I think the division of Lepidoptera.. the most easy and attractive section.  H. N. Humphreys, Esq, 1860.”

Page size is 285 x 210mm (11.25 x 8.25 inches).