Beschreibung:

Frederic Moore (1830-1907) [and Colonel C. Swinhoe] Lepidoptera Indica. London: L.Reeve & Co., Ltd., 1890-1913. 10 volumes, 4° (260 x 210mm). 834 hand-coloured lithographic plates only (of 836) by F.C.Moore, J.N.Fitch or E.C.Knight, one photogravure plate. (Lacking plates 272 and 419, generally browned, some plates and text torn with loss, other leaves loosely inserted, some crude repairs.) Modern leather binding. A VERY RARE WORK ON THE BUTTERFLIES OF INDIA, limited to 250 copies, and originally issued in 123 parts. There are only three records for this work having sold at auction in the last 25 years: all three copies were fragmentary. The fine lithographs (numbered 1-705, 705a, 706-835) are the work of Moore's son, John Nugent Fitch (nephew of Walter Fitch), and E.C.Knight. To quote from the publisher's flyer bound at the back of the tenth volume 'This exhaustive work... was planned and commenced by... Dr.Moore in 1890... Since [his death] in 1907 it has beeen continued... by Colonel Swinhoe. It embodies the results of twenty-five years' continuous study... and includes many new genera and species not previously described or figured. The work contains full descriptions of the...Butterflies found in India... It is illustrated by a series of 835 [sic] coloured plates, containing figures of over sixteen hundred species, in most cases depicting not only the male and female, but also variations between those of dry-season and wet-season broods, and as far as possible the larva and pupa... The geographical limits of the Indian Region were taken... to be the Himalayas in the North, the Suleiman and Hala Mountains on the North-West Ceylon on the South, and Burmah on the East, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; but lists with references are given throughout the work to Indo-Malayan, Chinese, and Japanese allied genera and species.' The work was available at £9 5s. per volume or £85 for the complete set. BM(NH) III, p.1344; Nissen ZBI 2879; sold not subject to return. (10)