Moths on Rose and Oak, Albin Insect Plate 74 with Italian Dedication, 1720

Moths and caterpillars on a rose spray and an oak twig, 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 below the image is a dedication in Italian, engraved in script: Al Rev. mo Pre. Don Bruno Tozzi Procuratore generale della Congregatione di Valombrosa Reg: Societ: Socio. In English: to the Most Reverend Father Don Bruno Tozzi, Procurator General of the Congregation of Vallombrosa, Fellow of the Royal Society.

The upper half shows a thorny rose spray with toothed leaves and red buds. A brown caterpillar rests at the top of the spray and a green caterpillar with dark markings lies along the main stem. A small dark moth sits at the upper left, a pale patterned moth at the right and a dark red chrysalis at the left. Below, an oak twig with lobed leaves carries a small brown caterpillar, with finely patterned pale moths at the left and right and a second chrysalis at the lower left.

The dedication carries no closing line naming Albin, and no artist's or engraver's credit is lettered on the sheet. The number "74" 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 74 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. Handling soiling along the left edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the top left corner. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the left.

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