Tufted Caterpillars and Moths on Hazel, Albin Plate 90 with Pencil Note, 1720

Tufted caterpillars and moths on hazel, 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 Dorothea Trotman Wife of Samuel Trotman of Bucknel Esq.r this Plate is humbly dedicated by Eleazar Albin."

Two sprigs with rounded, toothed leaves are set one above the other, the leaves bitten through in round holes, and the lower sprig hangs with catkins. The upper carries a pink caterpillar with dark tufts, with a dark moth spotted in white at the upper left, a small brown, bristly, six-legged insect at the left and a dark moth bordered in orange at the right. The lower carries a red orange tufted caterpillar, with a pale moth at the left, a mottled moth with eyespots at the right and a chrysalis at the lower left.

Across the middle of the sheet a later owner has written in pencil Phalaena at the left and Coryli at the right, followed by a letter B. No artist's or engraver's credit is lettered on this sheet beyond Albin's own name in the dedication. The number "90" 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 90 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. Slight wear at the bottom right corner. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the right.

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