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The Chalk-Hill Blue Butterfly

Order Item BSM-P93

$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 XXXIII, Papilio corydon. The whole upper surface of the wings, and the body of The Chalk-Hill Blue Butterfly are of a pale silvery blue with a broad black fringed margin. The lower wings have a row of central equidistant blue rings. The undersurface is of a grayish brown with a black margin, having a double row of white spots in the centre. This is an exceedingly local British butterfly, having only been found on the Chalk Hills, between Dartford and Rochester. It is believed to have not been found in any other part near London.

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 in very good condition for the age, with a small spot of light foxing below the text area which does not interfere with the frameable area. 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 page is shared with another engraving, the Phorcas Butterfly. It will be included with the respective engraving purchase on a first-come, first-served basis. Please ask about its availability if you are interested, or perhaps you may consider the purchase of both corresponding engravings.

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