Leipzig, Ambr. Abel, [1852]-1859. Two parts (text, atlas) in two. 8vo (23.9 x 16.5 cm). Half title, title, 617 pp. (viii, 608; [i]); 153 engraved plates of which 152 originally hand-coloured, and one plain (and without a number), as intended. Uniform blind, pebbled half cloth over marbled boards.

One of the most beautifully illustrated and rarest of the mid-19th-century butterfly books. Written by a virtually unknown German entomologist. Attention is given to caterpillars and fodder plants. Most copies we have seen were incomplete, only partially coloured, and without exception rather toned or spotted. In this copy, however, a light, often very light spotting is limited to a few text sections, whereas all the plates are extraordinarily clean and bright. Pages 599-608, the index, bound in front. The plain, unnumbered plate shows the general anatomy, explained on a separate printed leaf; all other plates have captions with species names. The atlas is bound separately, but a separate atlas title page was never published. The title page is undated, indicating that this is the original edition, issued in instalments, not the subsequent, otherwise unaltered, 1860 edition. The British Museum catalogue errs in listing 153 coloured plates. Spines sunned, an old erasure in the top margin of the title, otherwise very good, clean. Cat. BM(NH) p. 963; Horn-Schenkling, 11555; Nissen ZBI, 2196.