Hipparchia butterflies in Meadow Grass. Humphreys lithograph c1849.

by Humphreys, H.N.

Humphreys butterflies lithograph. Hipparchia, Brush-footed Butterflies antique print.
Butterflies: Hipparchia Briseis female, underside, Hipparchia Tithonus (Large Heath Butterfly) male, female, underside, Caterpillar, Chrysalis. Plant: Poa pratensis (Common Meadow Grass).

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 artwork surely echos 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.”

Page size is 285 x 210mm (11.25 x 8.25 inches). Faint rubs at right edge and slight soiling at base.