Butterfly and moth prints

Maria Sibylla Merian and Edward Donovan worked almost a century apart. Merian bred the caterpillars she found in Suriname until the adult emerged, and drew every stage on the plant it fed on, so that caterpillar, pupa and butterfly or moth share one plate. Look for the Swallow-tailed Butterfly with a passion flower, or the Emperor Moth. Her Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium first appeared in 1705; our prints follow the edition of 1719.

Edward Donovan, an Anglo-Irish naturalist, chose species that had not been illustrated before and set each one against a flowering plant of its country, in three books on the insects of China (1798), India (1800) and New Holland, as Australia was then called (1805). The swallowtails Papilio priamus and Papilio ulysses are from The Insects of India; The Insects of New Holland is dedicated to Sir Joseph Banks, whose collections and library he used.