Sherman Foote. As Nature Shows Them: Moths and Butterflies of the United States East of the Rocky Mountains, with over 400 Photographic Illustrations in the Text and Many Transfers of Species from Lif

by DENTON

£3,500 · Offered by Henry Sotheran Ltd · No longer available

DENTON, Sherman Foote As Nature Shows Them: Moths and butterflies of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, with over 400 photographic illustrations in the text and many transfers of species from life. Boston: Bradlee Whidden , 1900. Large 8vo. 2 vols. Contemporary half red morocco with marbled boards, spines with gilt raised bands, lettering and butterfly centre tools, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt; pp. [xvi], 161, [1]; pp. [xvi], [163]-361, [1]; with [56] leaves of plates featuring real butterfly wings [10 in vol. I, 46 in vol. 2], over 400 photographic illustrations; edges of binding rubbed, corners bumped, occasional spotting, traces of cutting removed from verso of ffep of vol 2, very good. First edition, number 23 of 500. Unsurprisingly, there was no second edition. Sherman Foote Denton (1856-1937), lepidopterist and entrepreneur, was commissioned to produce hundreds of illustrations for the US Fish Commission (later the US Fish and Wildlife Service) and the Forest, Fish and Game Commission of New York State on the strength of his artistic prowess and skills as a collector. He also ran a business in Wellesley, Massachusetts selling butterfly collecting paraphernalia such as his own patented mount which preserved the subject on a piece of plaster rather than fixed on a pin. This beautiful work, however, was produced as a labour of love in an effort to reproduce his subjects with utmost exactitude. No one before or since has attempted to illustrate a book with

• Binding: Hardcover

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