Bargain discounted. Striking lithograph of Vanessa Butterflies Lifecycle. Humphreys c1860.

by Humphreys, H.N.

Antique print of Butterflies and their Transformations.
Insects. 1. Vanessa Io Butterfly (Peacock Butterfly), 2. under-side, 3. Caterpillar, 4. Chrysalis, 5. Vanessa Antiopa Butterfly (Camberwell Beauty), 6. Caterpillar.
Plants. 8. Salix Russelliana (Bedford Willow), 9 & 10. Uritca dioica (Stinging Nettle).

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). Slightly off-centre of page, paper rubbed at top right, small rust mark at right and slight creasing of corners.