Iconotypes - Annotated by Oxford University Museum of Natural History (Hardcover)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><b>"Gloriously accessible. . . . A book as lovely as the creatures it depicts. There's much here for specialists (lepidopterists; art historians) but lay readers too can savor an astonishingly beautiful 'pre-industrial butterfly world.'"--<i>Library Journal</i></b> <p/><b>The first publication of Jones's <i>Icones</i>, a strikingly beautiful and significant achievement in natural history.</b> <p/> William Jones's<i> Icones</i> is one of the most scientifically important and visually stunning works on butterflies and moths ever created. <i>Icones</i> contains finely delineated paintings of more than 760 species of <i>Lepidoptera</i>, many of which it described for the first time, marking a critical moment in the study of natural history. Yet until now, it has never been published--the only existing manuscript copy is housed in the archives of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. With <i>Iconotypes</i>, Jones's work is published for the first time, accompanied by expert commentary and contextual essays, and featuring annotated maps showing where each specimen was discovered. <p/> Between the early 1780s and 1810, Jones, a wine merchant, painted in painstaking detail hundreds of species of <i>Lepidoptera</i>, drawing from his own collection and the collections of prominent amateur naturalists. For every specimen, Jones included the known species name, the collection, and the geographical location in which it was found. In this enhanced facsimile, Jones's historical references are clarified and modern taxonomic names are provided together with notes on which paintings serve as iconotypes. Contextual commentary by specialist entomologist Richard I. Vane-Wright gives an account of Jones's life, his motivation for collecting butterflies and creating the <i>Icones</i>, and evaluates the significance of Jones's work. This lavish volume intersperses contemporary maps showing the locations of each specimen, expert essays on the study of lepidoptery since Ancient Egyptian times, the development of taxonomy after Linnaeus, the roles of collectors and natural history artists during the late 1700s to mid-1800s, and the steep decline of butterflies and moths over the last fifty years. <i>Iconotypes</i> is a beautiful collector's object for fans of natural history and illustrations of butterflies and moths, as well as artists, designers, and bibliophiles.<p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br><p>"Its impact is exactly that of a clever child's colouring book. . . . The sheer intellectual as well as physical effort of gathering together a body of knowledge such as Icones cannot be underestimated, and nor can its collaborative nature, for every entry has a secret sharer in the name of the explorer and collector."</p>-- "The Herald"<br><br>"An unpublished masterpiece of the Enlightenment is made gloriously accessible. . . . A book as lovely as the creatures it depicts. There's much here for specialists (lepidopterists; art historians) but lay readers too can savor an astonishingly beautiful 'pre-industrial butterfly world.'"-- "Library Journal"<br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><b>Oxford University Museum of Natural History</b> holds an internationally significant collection of natural history specimens and archives. It is home to a lively program of research, teaching, and events focused on the sciences of the natural environment. <p/><b>Richard I. Vane-Wright </b>is an entomologist and taxonomist who has been associated with London's Natural History Museum for nearly sixty years. A specialist on butterflies, he retired from the museum in 2004 as Keeper of the Department of Entomology. He is the author of three books, most recently <i>Butterflies: A Complete Guide to Their Biology and Behavior, </i> and he is involved with biodiversity conservation and local entomological projects. <br>
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