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

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. Wilson's Lepidoptera Calendar', with 'Jon. Wilson' in faint pencil above. Arranged in red ink columns, with the first part of the notebook listing the 'Moths out' in successive months from January to December, with a last section of 'Time not stated'. The number and name of the moth are given, with columns for the time of its 'Caterpillar out', and its 'Food Plant'. Another column states, in red ink, whether the moth is 'rare', and other comments such as 'Local', 'not in England', 'only North England', 'caught in Kent' and 'found on Warren Folkestone'. There is a strong indication that Wilson hailed from Kent, with moths being noted in Deal, Ramsgate and other places in the county. The moth section is followed by one for 'Caterpillars out' from April and May to October. Page of doodling insects and men inside back cover.