Author: Kirby, William (1759-1850) & William Spence (1783-1860)
Title: INTRODUCTION TO ENTOMOLOGY or elements of the natural history of Insects with Plates.
Description: London, Longman etc.3rd edition 1818, 1818, 1826 Hand-coloured copperplates (5), supposedly by John Curtis (1791-1862). . 3 VOLUMES octavo (145 by 215mm) half calf marbled boards faux bands with 4 (of 6) spine labels (head of spine chipped/labels bit chipped, worn off on vol iii, partialy worn on vol ii) Printer's flaw Vol ii, p 33. Vol.I Frontis (Plate I) + xxxii (title & prelims) +[1]p contents + 512pp + [2]pp (explanation of plates & errata) + Plates II & III + [2]pp (list of other works & printer details); Vol.II Frontis (Plate IV) + title +[2]pp (contents & errata) +530pp + Plate V + [2]pp (list of other works). Endpapers foxed and tide-marked, plates and text with very little foxing. Text in good condition across all vols, signature of M-Butler atop title page on each volume. Some staining on title page of vol ii, no impact on text. Pullout on p354 of Vol iii, vol also contains portrait of Kirkby opposite title page. Vol I and ii second edition, Vol iii first edition. *Kirkby was a proflic figure in early entomology, a founding father of the Entomological Society of London in 1827, and a patron of natural history at the Ipswich Museum and the Norwich Museum. A prominent Tory, he pamphletered against Thomas Paine in his youth, and was supposedly refused profesership at Cambridge due to his partisanship. The four volumes of this work published between 1815-1826 are considered widley influential texts in the history of Entomology.

Keywords: Insects (Entomology)


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