page_title: British Entomology
section_title: Publication history
hierarchical_section_title: British Entomology / Publication history
caption_attribution_description: English: British Entomology, John Curtis. Plate 717 (Detail) - Sycamore Scale-insect. Coccus aceris.
context_page_description: British Entomology is a classic work of entomology by John Curtis, FLS. It is subtitled Being Illustrations and Descriptions of the Genera of Insects found in Great Britain and Ireland: Containing Coloured Figures from Nature of the Most Rare and Beautiful Species, and in Many Instances of the Plants Upon Which they are Found.
  The work comprises 770 hand-coloured, copper-plate engravings, each 8 by ​5 ¹⁄₂ inches, together with two or more pages of text. The work was issued in monthly parts over 16 years, each part comprising three or more plates. Plates were initially printed on James Whatman's Turkey Mill paper and then on Rye Mill paper.
  It was a masterpiece of the engraver's and colourist's art, described by the eminent French naturalist Georges Cuvier as the "paragon of perfection". Close examination of a proof set of plates reveals an obsessive attention to detail. The shading of the foliage is typically achieved by multiple, finely engraved lines spaced at intervals of five or more to the millimetre. The fronds of many moth antennae are individually coloured – as in plate 674.
context_section_description: First edition
  Announcement in the Somerset House Gazette, Volume I, January 1824:
  On the 1st of January, 1824, will be Published (to be continued Monthly,) Price 3s 6d. plain, 4s.6d. coloured, No.I. of British Entomology; or Illustrations and Descriptions of the Genera of Insects found in Great Britain and Ireland; containing Coloured Figures of the most rare and beautiful species, and of the Plants upon which they are found, &c. By John Curtis, F.L.S.
  The initial subscribers' list comprised 167 names, of whom 87 were committing to take the entire work even though the total size and final publication date were then unknown. Publication commenced as announced with a proposed print run of 200 copies of each part to be issued monthly over 16 years as annual volumes each of 12 parts – 192 parts in all. Each monthly part to comprise three or more, usually four, plates with accompanying text. By January 1839 the list of subscribers had fallen to 142. Of the original subscribers, only 31 eventually purchased all 192 first-edition parts on the day of issue and of these, three were joint-subscribers for a single set and two others each purchased two sets. Curtis's set is known to have included the later reprints of parts 1 to 8. The final subscribers' list of January 1840 shows that two complete sets were sold in December 1839 to previously unrecorded subscribers, "G. Folliott Esq., Chester (proofs)" and "Mrs Butler, Vicar's Cross". Curiously, at the time the only occupied dwelling at Vicar's Cross was the mansion owned and occupied by George Folliott and his immediate family and servants, none of whom was named Butler. The Butler set almost certainly included all the reprints.
  A complete, sixteen-volume, chronologically bound set was sold from Curtis's estate on 8 June 1863 (John C. Stevens, auctioneer, King Street, Covent Garden, London – Lot 54) but it is not known whether or not this exclusively comprised first-edition parts – it could be the harlequin set now with the British Entomological Society. The same sale also included an incomplete set of five volumes (Lot 55), a quantity of faulty prints (Lot 93) and a large quantity of good, loose coloured plates (Lot 95).
  At most, including proofs, just 32 complete first-edition sets, free of reprints, are definitely known to have been issued.
  Proof impressions
   
   
  In spite of the finely detailed illustrations being more suited to steel-plate engraving, copper was used throughout. Curtis gives no clue as to why he made this choice. Copper plates noticeably degrade after as few as 50 impressions and so the earlier impressions, especially the proof sets, are of significantly higher quality and more finely detailed than those that followed. 
  Four complete sets of proof impressions, personally coloured by Curtis, were produced. These were sold at a considerable premium; one to Michael Bland of Paddington, London, and one to George Folliott of Vicar's Cross, Cheshire. The remaining two being taken by James Wadmore of Chapel Street, London.
  A proof set can most easily be identified by reference to plate 717 (sycamore scale-insect - Coccus aceris), the first plate in Volume VII of a systematically bound set. The two setae of this insect are each delineated by two clearly separated, very fine lines; the left most of which is so fine as to be barely visible. Curtis significantly emboldened these lines for the standard impressions.
  Reprint of Parts 1 to 8 (plates 1–34) and Parts 9 to 30
  Demand from later, new subscribers required Curtis retrospectively to print at least an additional 72 sets of parts 1 to 30. This reprinting commenced in January 1829 and continued until 1840 and was concurrent with the printing of the remaining parts 31 to 192 of the first edition which were increased in number to accommodate the additional demand.
  Reprints of the plates and text of parts 1 to 8 (plates 1 to 34) can be all identified by an underscore to the plate number and in the case of plate 30, also by the addition of the systematic reference number 283. The text was comprehensively rewritten and reset 
caption: Detail from proof Plate 717,  sycamore scale-insect, Coccus aceris
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