Early butterfly illustrations in books

[Jack Harrison]

As a child in the mid-1940s,I had "The Children's Encyclopaedia" by Arthur Mee. The pictures of butterflies were poor but were all I had. I treasured those pictures and can almost "see" them today in my mind's eye. That Encyclopaedia has long since vanished

I would early love to see those illustrations again but internet search has drawn a complete blank. I wonder if there is anyone who has those pictures and could send copies?

Jack Harrison

[Rogerdodge]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/THE-CHILDREN'S-EN ... dZViewItem

HTH

Roger

[Roger Gibbons]

I've scanned (not very well) a few pages.

The Camberwell beauty could be real.

Roger

[Rogerdodge]

How strange..........
The moment I saw that first illustration, I was back in the late 50s, early 60s - I had the same book(s) and had forgotten all about it!
Memories...................

Thanks

Roger

[Jack Harrison]

That is absolutely brilliant. The scanning is excellent. Many many thanks. I'm transported back to my childhood. I really thought I would never see those illustrations again. You've made an old man (now in my 63rd year butterflying) very happy.

Now one page that particularly interested me had Orange Tip but featured the male only. I caught a female that wasn't illustrated and thought I had caught a "freak". It wasn't until I got "South" the next year (1947) that I learnt the truth.

Roger. Do you happen to have the Orange Tip page?

Jack

[Roger Gibbons]

Here's the Orange tip page:

Roger

[Jack Harrison]

I knew my memory hadn't failed me. A male is illustrated but not the female.

The background is this. In the spring of 1946, I caught male Orange Tips so although the Children's Encyclopaedia only showed uppersides, I had found out for myself what the undersides of the males were like. Then I caught the "freak" that had the correct underside as per the now-familiar males but no orange. I, with the help of my Mum, deduced that it certainly WAS an Orange Tip but a very odd one.

Mum was not an expert on wildlife by any means so she and I had fun learning together. I was seven years old in the spring of 1946.

Jack Harrison

[Trev Sawyer]

Not quite as early, but whilst on holiday in 1969, I remember needing to be physically dragged past a shop which had two large (and very appealing) books in the window... "Beautiful Butterflies" and "Beautiful Moths" - both by Spring Books of London and illustrated by F. Prochazka. I believe they were written in Czechoslovakia. These books eventually turned up on my birthday a few weeks later "Best wishes from Mummy and Daddy" . The pictures in these books still take me back to the age of 8.(See attached photo). British and foreign insects were pictured and these fired my enthusiasm to learn more about them in the future.

[Jack Harrison]

I have a lovely old book "British Butterflies" by W.S.Coleman. I believe that the first edition dates from circa 1860 but my version is 1905.

The main interest is the inside the front cover:
"To Len. With love from Mum and Dad. Xmas 1915"

I of course have no idea who "Len" was. But he too had parents who encouraged an interest that has probably never left him all his life. Trev, I and in an earlier age Len, have all been lucky.

Jack Harrison

[Dave]

Jack - I'm a dealer of collectibles and have a plate from Newnes Pictorial Knowledge. Just a single page salvaged from a damaged book ca 1940's or earlier but it's in an almost identical style covering 13 British Butterflies.Should be ok for mounting - if you want it just send me a postal address and I'll pop it in the post.

[Jack Harrison]

How can I refuse? I might have seen it before for all I know - it certainly should trigger memories.

Jack but "officially" K.A.

K.A.Harrison, 58 Heydon Road, Great Chishill, SG8 8SR

[Jack Harrison]

I of course have no idea who "Len" was. But he too had parents who encouraged an interest that has probably never left him all his life. Trev, I and in an earlier age Len, have all been lucky.

Don't forget that Captain Robert Scott (of the Antarctic) left a note when the end was inevitable to his wife about son Peter:
"encouraged to make...him interested in natural history"

I had the pleasure of meeting Peter Scott a few times (name dropping). I think he was just a little interested in natural history!

Jack Harrison

[Dave]

It's in the post first thing - if it's no use to you just bin it. Cheers.

[Padfield]

I've been away for the weekend, taking kids on a cross-country skiing expedition across the Jura, so I missed all these nostalgic posts! But I too first learned my butterflies from the Arthur Mee Children's Encyclopaedia and we still have all the volumes back in England. When I was 7 I memorised them all off by heart and then set out to find them, never to look back! And I also still have all those cigrarette cards that Trev posted!

My first 'serious' butterfly book was the Observer's Book - the old one before they had photos. All those pictures are deeply engrained in my memory and still shape the way I see butterflies.

Guy

[Roger Gibbons]

This nostalgia trip and the mention of W S Coleman prompted me to have another look at my hardback copy which appears to be an 1893 original. It mentions that a “paperback” version is available, price one shilling.

Some of the common names are interesting:
Holly blue was Azure blue
Small/Little blue was Bedford blue
Marsh fritillary was Greasy fritillary (a definite improvement)
Heath fritillary was Pearl-bordered likeness fritillary (!!!)
Speckled wood was principally known as Wood argus
Gatekeeper/Hedge brown was Large heath (very confusing)
Large heath was Marsh (or Small) ringlet

It includes so-called UK species as Apollo and Purple-edged copper, both of which I would find hard (or impossible) to believe that either of these ever occurred here naturally.

Roger

[Jack Harrison]

Jack - I'm a dealer of collectibles and have a plate from Newnes Pictorial Knowledge. Just a single page salvaged from a damaged book ca 1940's or earlier but it's in an almost identical style covering 13 British Butterflies.Should be ok for mounting - if you want it just send me a postal address and I'll pop it in the post.

They arrived safely yesterday. I couldn't reply then as I was birding at Minsmere.

The pictures do indeed ring a bell. I can't quite recall where I saw them before but I certainly had done so at some point in the distant past. They are indeed ideal for mounting so I will get some frames.

So once again, many thanks Dave. Much appreciated.

Jack