Moths and Caterpillars on Hawthorn with Red Haws, Albin Plate 95, 1720

Moths and caterpillars on hawthorn, an original hand colored copper engraving of 1720 from Eleazar Albin's A Natural History of English Insects. The plate has no title caption; the lettering engraved below the image is a dedication: "To Mrs Elizabeth Gorges Wife of John Codrington of Codrington Esq.r this plate is humbly Dedicated by Eleazar Albin."

The upper group gives a hawthorn branch with lobed leaves and clusters of scarlet haws, with a twig-like brown caterpillar lying along the branch. A mottled gray moth sits at the upper left, a moth marked in orange and dark brown at the right and a dark chrysalis at the left. Below, a hawthorn sprig carries a dark banded caterpillar, with yellow moths at the left and right and a second chrysalis at the lower left.

Both hands are named on this sheet: at the lower left "E. Albin del." (delineavit, drew it), and at the lower right H: Terasson, Sculp, London, (Sculp, short for sculpsit, engraved it). The number "95" is written by hand in ink at the top right of the sheet; no engraved plate number is visible. The insects are keyed with small engraved letters (a, b, c and so on); no species names are printed.

The sheet is plate 95 of Eleazar Albin's A Natural History of English Insects, published in London in 1720. The title page of the book reads "A NATURAL HISTORY OF ENGLISH INSECTS, Illustrated with a Hundred Copper Plates, Curiously Engraven from the Life: And (for those who desire it) Exactly Colored by the Author ELEAZAR ALBIN, Painter", with the imprint "LONDON: Printed for the Author, and sold by William and John Innys at the West End of St Paul's. MDCCXX." The book thus offered its plates colored by the author for those who desired it. Albin was a painter and naturalist working in London.

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Slight wear at the bottom left corner.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.