Description
Description of Eleazar Albin's Insectorum Angliae Naturalis Historia
These beautiful, originally hand-colored engravings are from Eleazar Albin's Insectorum Angliae Naturalis Historia (or A Natural History of British Insects). This work was the first and only Latin edition and was published in London in 1731. Each plate from the work was dedicated to a member of the English nobility or to a high ranking person.
Albin was a professional painter and an accomplished natural history illustrator. This work was originally published in 1720 and was the first grouping of English moths and butterflies in color. The artistry was based off of Maria Sibylla Merian's Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium (1705). Much of the hand coloring in Insectorum was done by Albin's daughter, Elizabeth.