Bargain discounted. Butterflies and their Transformations, antique print c1860.

by Humphreys, H.N.

Wonderful butterfly life-cycle hand-coloured illustration by H.N. Humphreys.
Insects. 1.Papilio Machaon (Swallow-tailed Butterfly), 2.Caterpillar, 3.Chrysalis. 4.Papilio Podalirius (Scarce Swallow-tail Butterfly). 7.Goniapteryx Rhamni (Brimstone Butterfly) – male, 8.female, 9.Caterpillar, 10.Chrysalis.
Plants: 11.Daucus Carota (Wild Carrot), 12.Prumus spinosa (Sloe), 13.Rhamnus catharticus (Buckthorn).

Original  hand-coloured lithograph arranged and illustrated by Henry Noel Humphreys (1810-1879) with characters and descriptions by John Obadiah Westwood, F.L.S. and secretary of the Entomological Society, (1805-1893), for British Butterflies and their Transformations published in London c1860.

Humphreys was a British naturalist, entomologist and illustrator.. His presentation of butterflies with their caterpillar and chrysalis, impressed curators at the British Museum, who adopted this method of illustrating the transformation lifecycle of insects. Humphreys wrote, “The study of natural history... 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.”

Page size is 285 x 210mm (11.25 x 8.25 inches). This delightful lithograph has a slight nick out of the paper at the left hand edge, and the page is slightly soiled and rubbed. It is a wonderfully bright, happy graphic.