Rennes, F. C. Oberthür, 1904. 8vo (24.4 x 15.8 cm). 77 pp.; plates I-V; all finely hand-coloured, one heightened with silver, one in double suite; an extra, handwritten plate explanation to plates I-IV bound in the rear. Later blind half cloth over marbled boards.

A unique association copy of the first volume of this major lepidopterological work, containing fine, hand-coloured plates and systematic revisions and descriptions of a great number of butterflies from various temperate and tropical regions. This copy with a signed, handwritten dedication by Charles Oberthür to "Monsieur le Docteur Christ"; in the same hand, a clarification of plates I-IV, differing from the printed version in its details of the localities. The recipient was, in all probability, the Swiss medical doctor and botanist Konrad Hermann Heinrich Christ (1833-1933), who published on Lepidoptera between 1873 and 1897. The five chromolithographed plates, of which several were touched up by hand, are by A. Dallongeville and published by the family-owned press of Oberthür in Rennes. Plate IV is in double suite, one hand-coloured, one plain, which is understandable because the fine wing-nervature is much more detailed on the uncoloured plate. Obviously Oberthür gave some extra effort to this presentation copy. A complete set consists of 23 volumes (1904-1925). All parts are rare. Spine a bit sunned. A near mint copy. Cat. BM(NH), p. 1460; Nissen ZBI, 2998.