BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED. Episodes of Insect Life by Acheta domestica [house cricket]

London: Reeve, Benham, and Reeve, 1849, 1850, 1851. First editions.

VICTORIAN ENTOMOLOGICAL CHRONICLES BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH HAND COLORED LITHOGRAPHS OF NATURAL AND HUMANIZED INSECT LIFE.

Three hardcover volumes 8 inches tall, 3/4 black calf binding, marbled covered boards, spines with raised bands, gilt titles and gilt decorated compartments, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, personal library bookplate to front paste-down, hand-colored lithographed frontis, title page with vignette, and many hand-colored headpieces and uncolored illustrations throughout each volume. Vol. 1 (1st Series), xviii, 320 pp; Vol. 2 (2nd Series), xvi, 326 pp; Vol. 3 (3rd Series), xvii, 434 pp. Light wear to cover edges and corners, occasional spots to pages, no marks to text, colors bright, very good in custom archival mylar covers.

NOTES ON THE BOOKS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE LIBRARY: The best-known work of a little-known author, Episodes of insect life is essentially an insect chronicle by the British writer and illustrator, Louise M Budgen, who published under the pseudonym "Acheta Domestica", the feminised, scientific name for house cricket. Published in three volumes between 1849 and 1851, Episodes of insect life, with its scientific renditions of insects, and their occasional placement in human-like settings, reflects the entomological curiosity and romanticism characteristic of the 19th century. Insects by their very diversity became marvellous creatures to eulogize, and Budgen, although not a scientist herself, clearly wanted to educate her readers in the science of entomology. She believed that an insect would become of increasing interest to those who could follow it through its progressive stages, and that's exactly how she arranged the chapters in her books. The series makes up the entire entomological year, with volume one covering the seasons between January and April, volume two the seasons between May and August and volume three the remainder of the year. Each chapter is dedicated to a particular insect or its genus, and opens with a scientific illustration of the subject matter in its natural habitat and ends with a whimsical vignette of an insect portraying human attributes.