INSECTS

[ Entomology; Forel ] Typed Letter Signed ('A Forel') by Forel, with photo; Autograph Letter Signed ('Edd: Clodd') by Clodd on blacks in Jamaica; ALS ('P. Celesia') by Celesia; in a copy of the English translation of Forel's 'The Senses of Insects'.

Author: 
Auguste Forel [Auguste-Henri Forel] (1848-1931), Swiss entomologist and psychiatrist; Edward Clodd (1840-1930), English anthropologist; Paolo Celesia (1872-1916), Italian biologist [Jamaica; racism]
Publication details: 
Forel's letter: 7 May 1908, Yvorne. Clodd's letter: 4 June 1917, on letterhead of Strafford House, Aldeburgh, Suffolk. Celesia's letter: 15 June 1906, Como. The book: London: Methuen & Co. 1908.
£180.00

The three letters are addressed to the translator of Forel's book, the surgeon and free-thinker Percival Macleod Yearsley (1867-1951). Forel's letter: 4to, 1 p. Twenty lines. In French. Text clear and complete. On browned and chipped high-acidity paper. Laid down on the front pastedown. In the first paragraph he thanks the translator, Macleod Yearsley, for the book, which he praises in fulsome terms. He is sending a copy of his 'Question Sexuelle'.

[Edmond de Sélys Longchamps, Belgian scientist and politician.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Edm. de Selys Longchamps'), in French, to 'Monsieur Stevens', regarding a collection of specimens he has offered him.

Author: 
Baron Michel Edmond de Sélys Longchamps (1813-1900), Belgian liberal politician and scientist, a great authority on dragonflies
Publication details: 
Liege. 26 March 1866.
£140.00

2pp., 12mo. In fair condition, on lightly aged and creased paper. He writes that he has received the collection of specimens safely, and that there are several that are new to him. He would like to make a selection, but pressure of work makes that impossible, so he is taking the lot at £8 18s 0d. He concludes by expressing pleasure at the news that 'Monsieur Dale' still enjoys good health.

[Dr John M. Crawford, Charles Dury, Professor Herbert S. Osborn, American entomologists.] Thirteen Autograph Cards Signed (ten from Dury, two from Crawford and one from Osborn) to the Coleoptera expert Charles G. Siewers of Newport, Kentucky.

Author: 
Charles Dury of Cincinnati; John Martin Crawford of the Chickering Institute, Ohio; Professor Herbert S. Osborn [Charles G. Siewers of Newport, Kentucky; American entomologists; natural history]
Publication details: 
All sent from Cincinnati, Ohio. Six of the thirteen dated between 1880 and 1882 (the year of Siewers's death). The others undated.
£500.00

The thirteen cards are all 13 x 7.5cm. All with 'POSTAL CARD' printed on front, and all with Cincinnati postmarks, nine also carrying Newport postmarks. All thirteen addressed to Siewers at Newport. For information on Charles Dury (1847-1901) see his obituary by Annette F. Braun in the Ohio Journal of Science, November 1931, pp.512-514. Braun stresses Dury's wide correspondence, and association with individuals including Alfred Russell Wallace, E. D. Cope, Spencer F. Baird, George Horn, John L. LeConte, Robert Ridgway, Elliott Coues, and his 'companion of many field trips' Professor J. S.

Beekeeping Diary of Amy Mary Driberg of Uckfield Lodge, Crowborough, mother of Labour politician Tom Driberg, containing dated and initialled autograph entries, and detailed accounts of honey taken, sold and given away, with a few ephemeral items.

Author: 
Amy Mary Irving Driberg (d.1939) [née Bell], of Uckfield Lodge, Crowborough, wife of J.J.S. Driberg, and mother of Labour politician Tom Driberg (Baron Bradwell) (1905-76) [beekeeping; apiculture]
Publication details: 
[Uckfield Lodge, Crowborough, Sussex.] Dated between 1 July 1932 and 4 July 1938.
£450.00

142pp., 4to. In a ruled notebook, bound in black cloth, with marbled endpapers. In fair condition, on aged paper, in worn binding with loss to a corner of a board. Starting at one end of the notebook is the diary of autograph entries, each dated and initialled by Mrs Driberg. In 1932 Mrs Driberg, a formidable Scottish widow in the last years of her life, has five hives (numbered 1 to 4, with a fifth observation hive), with a sixth hive (No. 5) added by 1934.

Manuscript notebook, titled 'Calendar of British Moths & Their larvae and food Plants' and 'J[on]. Wilsons Lepidoptera Calendar'.

Author: 
Jonathan Wilson, Victorian lepidopterist of Kent, England [British moths]
Publication details: 
Undated [between 1870 and 1885]. Front cover with label of 'Letts Son & Co. Limited, London, E.C.'
£450.00

This item can be roughly dated from the fact that the firm of 'Letts Son & Co. Limited' only traded in this style between 1870 and 1885, the public company going into liquidation in the latter year. There is an indication (see below) that Wilson hailed from Kent, and the present volume provides a valuable first-hand record into the state of the moth population in England at the end of the Victorian period. 12mo, 158 pp. Text clear and complete. Fair, on lightly-aged paper, in worn brown leather quarter binding, marbled endpapers. Letts label on front cover reads 'J.

Catalogues 1, 2, 5 and 16 of the 'Bibliothèque Entomologique'.

Author: 
Ed. André [Édouard François André (1840-1911)], editor [entomology; book catalogues]
Publication details: 
February and September 1883, October 1884 and January 1888. 21, Boulevard Bretonnière, a Beaune (Cote-d'Or)'.
£125.00

All four catalogues are stitched and unbound. All four are 8vo, with nos. 1 and 5 of 32 pp, no. 2 of 64 pp, and no 16 of 40 pp. The last leaf of catalogue 2, carrying advertisements is torn with some loss, otherwise the texts are clear and complete, on aged and spotted paper. Providing valuable bibliographical information, in a specialised scientific field.

Typed Letter Signed to F. R. McQuown.

Author: 
Ian William Beresford Nye
Publication details: 
15 September 1964, on letterhead of the British Museum (Natural History), Department of Entomology.
£35.00

Entomologist (1924-), author of the monumental 'Generic names of moths of the world' (6 vols, 1975-91). The recipient is the author of several works on gardening. 1 page, 8vo. In good condition, but creased and with one closed tear and with sellotape stains at head and foot. He thanks his correspondent for the letter of 10 September enclosing a caterpillar, and compliments him on its preservation. '[I]t is in perfect condition for determination. It is very difficult to preserve the green coloration, as in life.' He identifies the specimen as a cabbage moth.

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