Butterfly and moth prints
Butterflies and moths by Edward Donovan, from his insects of China, India and Australia, and by Maria Sibylla Merian. Every print is a facsimile giclée at the size of the original sheet, limited to 250.
Soursop with Owlet Moth
$185
Jatropha Moth, Lizzard & Manioc
$185
Snake and Moth
$185
Coral Tree with Emperor Moth
$185
Yellow Mombin Plum Tree & Blue Moth
$185
Racinis Butterfly & Greater Sacktail Castor Oil Plant
$185
Black Currant with Butterfly
$185
Tobacco Plant with Butterfly
$185
Cotton Leaf Jatropha & Mimicry Moth
$185
Emperor Moth
$185
Swallow-tailed Butterfly & Passion Flower
$185
Pearly-eyed Butterfly with Nut
$185
Pearly-eyed Butterfly and Flies
$185
Caligo Butterfly Wasp and Acanthacae
$185
Heather Butterfly & Metamorphic Study
$185
About 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.