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The Imperial Trojan

Order Item BSM-P81

$25.00

Captain Thomas Brown (1785-1862), was a British naturalist born in Perth, Scotland and was educated at the Edinburgh High School. After joining the Forfar and Kineardine Militia at the age of twenty, he was raised to rank of Captain in 1811. While quartered in Manchester, he became interested in nature. He purchased the Fifeshire flax mill after his regiment was disbanded. The mill burned down before he had the opportunity to insure it. Also a malacologist (studying mollusks), he began to write books about nature to earn a living. For twenty-two years beginning in 1840, he was curator of the Manchester Museum. Additionally, he became a fellow of the Linnean Society, a member of the Wernerian, Kirwanian, and Phrenological Societies. Of the several natural history books he wrote, some dealt with conchology (studying the shells of mollusks). There was a shell named after him called Zebina browniana.

Plate XII, Papilio priamus. The Imperial Trojan. This superb butterfly has the upper surface of its wings of a brilliant green, shaded of a paler colour towards the upper and lower discs of the superior wings. All the wings have a black margin entirely surrounding them. In the centre of the upper wings are two large longitudinal black patches, and on each of the lower wings are four large circular black spots and a golden yellow square spot close to the edge of the upper surface. The head is black. The upper part of the back is black with a large oval spot of green and yellow in its centre and two smaller green spots below it. The eyes are a bright fawn colour, and the abdomen pale chestnut. It measures upwards of seven and one half inches, wing tip to wing tip and is a native of the island of Amboyna.

This particular plate is an original hand-coloured engraving from "The Book of Butterfies, Sphinges, and Moths" by Captain Thomas Brown, Volume One (1834). This bright, vividly coloured plate measures approximately 4 X 6.5 inches. It is especially clean for the age, with a small light spot of foxing in the lower right page corner which does not interfere with the frameable portion. The engraved portion could be matted and/or framed to an area 3 .5 inches square, or larger to include the plate number and name of butterfly. The corresponding descriptive text pages are included with the purchase of this fine engraving.

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