Butterflies Lifecycle hand-coloured lithograph by Humphreys. Antique print c1860

by Humphreys, H.N.

Pyrgus? Malvarum, Cyclopides Paniscus and Cyclopides Sylvius, on their host plants, Althea officinalis (Marsh Mallow) and Plantago Major (Greater Plantain).

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 c1860.

Henry Noel Humphreys (1810-1879), was a British naturalist, entomologist, illustrator (and numismatist). His illustrations of 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 about thte 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.”

There is a small foxing spot at lower right. Page size is 285 x 210mm (11.25 x 8.25 inches). External size for framing is 38 x 32cm (15 x 12 1/2 inches).