Papillons Exotiques

this important history of entomology, abundantly described and beautifully illustrated, is the first book on exotic butterflies using the new system developed by Carl von Linné (1707-1778) for naming and classifying animals.

Pieter Cramer (1721-1776) was a wealthy Dutch Spanish wool merchant and entomologist who had a passion for insects. He built up a large collection, especially of butterflies, from Dutch traders and settlers in Surinam. Wishing to publish the rarest pieces of his collection, Cramer called upon Gerrit Wartenaar Lambertz who painted more than 1650 of the rarest specimens from the two Indies, Asia, Africa and America from his collection and from other Dutch collectors. With the help of the entomologist Caspar Stoll and the booksellers S. J. Baalde of Amsteldam and J. van Schoonhoven of Utrecht, who took on the publication at their own expense, the first issues appeared in 1775. Cramer died in 1776 before the publication was Caspar Stoll took over the project, wrote the last part of the 4th volume (on the lepidoptera) and published a supplement on the caterpillars and chrysalids of Surinam in 1791.

Originally published in 34 parts gathered in 4 volumes from 1775 to 1782, this important history of entomology, abundantly described and beautifully illustrated, is the first book on exotic butterflies using the new system developed by Carl von Linné (1707-1778) for naming and classifying animals. It is here enlarged by its supplement published in 1791. The plates show 1650 fine life-size specimens, drawn on the originals by Lambert, engraved and illuminated under the supervision of Pieter Cramer.