Nature Observed

The first edition of 'Naauwkeurige Waarneemingen...' (~Accurate Observations...) by the Dutch amateur naturalist, Jacob L'Admiral Jr. (1700-1770) was published in 1740 and is hosted by the Tresoar website.

The engravings feature naturalistic scenes of butterfly and hawk moth metamorphosis with their associated plants. The author both engraved the twenty five illustrations and hand coloured the plates himself. A second edition was edited and released in 1774 by Martin Houttuyn [see: The Wood Book] featuring a further eight previously unpublished plates by L'Admiral. I believe that both British and Dutch insect species are illustrated.

As a side note, a claim of plagiarism was levelled by entomology enthusiasts against the noted naturalist, Moses Harris, whose 1766 book, 'The Aurelian', printed mirror-image copies of the illustrations by L'Admiral. The 1840 edition of 'The Aurelian' was updated by JO Westwood and included this defence to the charges:

"It would be useless at the present day to say anything in praise of a work, which has been so long favourably known as 'The Aurelian'. That Harris took the idea from L'Admiral's work is certainly true, and that one or two of his figures of very rare insects are copied therefrom is admitted by Harris himself, but the grace with which he delineated the difficult and varied positions of insects whilst on the wing, the elegant arrangement of many of his plates, and above all the correctness of his figures, are a sufficient answer to the charge of plagiarism which has been brought against him."

OR: "Our pictures are better so it's not plagiarism!!". I wonder how that would go in a court today. [also]

• Antiquarian Booksellers entry.
• Scientific Illustration in the Eighteenth Century, an undated essay by Brian J Ford from Cardiff University (an interesting read, but he gets the plagiarism charge the wrong way around)
• Previously: fauna --- flora.