1820s COLOR ENGRAVINGS. American Entomology, or Descriptions of the Insects of North America. Illustrated by Coloured Figures From Original Drawings Executed From Nature

Philadelphia: Samuel Augustus Mitchell, 1824, 1825, 1828. First editions. SCARCE LANDMARK EARLY STUDY OF AMERICAN INSECTS WITH FINE COLOR PLATES. Three hardcover volumes 10 inches tall, recased in pink paper-covered boards, black leather spines gilt with red leather gilt title labels, uncut pages. Vol. I: original paper title affixed to cover, title page followed by engraved additional title by C. A. Le Sueur, with tissue guard, viii, unpaginated with 18 hand colored stipple engravings—each with tissue guard and followed by descriptive text, index; Vol. II: Plates 19 – 36, index; Vol. III: Plates 37 – 54, index. Engravings in the work were created by Cornelius (truncated) Tiebout, James B. Longacre, and George S. Lang, from drawings by Titian R. Peale, William W. Wood, Charles A. Lesueur and Hugh Bridport. Light wear to covers, small handstamp to verso of each title page, "This Book is no Longer the Property of the John Crerar Library" (no other library marks), pages clean and crisp with occasional light foxing, plates in vibrant color, very good in custom slipcase. FROM AN ONLINE DESCRIPTION OF THE LINDA HALL LIBRARY COPY: "In the text, Say provided a Linnean name, and a dry technical description, but then in a section called "Observations," he wrote rather colloquially about where the specimen was found (usually somewhere along the route of the Long expedition) and what it tells us about the lives of insects. Of the spider wasp Pompilus (fourth and fifth images), Say recounted: "Descending the Arkansaw river, with Major Long's party, I was one day surprised to see a species of this genus, dragging along the ground the body of the gigantic Bird-catching spider, the Mygale avicularia, or a very closely allied species." He had similar tales to tell about most of his specimens." CITED BY MS ENGEL'S Natural Histories Innumerable Insects, New York (2018)--including illustrations of 3 of the plates from American Entomology. THOMAS SAY (1787 – 1834) has been called the father of American entomology. He served as librarian for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, curator at the American Philosophical Society, and professor of natural history at the University of Pennsylvania. Say trained to be an apothecary. A self-taught naturalist, Say helped found the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP) in 1812. At the Academy, Say began his work on what he would publish as American Entomology. To collect insects, he made numerous expeditions to frontier areas, risking American Indian attacks and hazards of traveling in wild countryside. In 1818, Say accompanied his friend William Maclure, father of American geology, and other members of the Academy on a geological expedition to the offshore islands of Georgia and Florida, then a Spanish colony. In 1823, Say served as chief zoologist in Stephen Long's expedition to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. He traveled on the "Boatload of Knowledge" to the New Harmony Settlement in Indiana (1826–34), a utopian society experiment founded by Robert Owen. At New Harmony, Say completed his monumental work offered here. TITIAN RAMSAY PEALE (1799 – 1885) was an American artist, naturalist, and explorer from Philadelphia. He was a scientific illustrator whose paintings and drawings of wildlife are known for their beauty and accuracy. He was a member of several high-profile scientific expeditions. In 1819–20, he and Thomas Say accompanied Stephen Harriman Long on an expedition to the Rocky Mountains. He was also a member of the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842). From 1833 to 1836, Peale managed the Philadelphia Museum, which had been founded by his father Charles Willson Peale. Like his older brothers Raphaelle, Rembrandt, and Rubens Peale, Titian helped his father in the preservation of the museum's specimens for display. CHARLES ALEXANDRE LESUEUR (1778 – 1846) was a French naturalist, artist, and explorer. Between May 1816 and early 1837, he lived and traveled widely in the United States, particularly in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1817. From 1826 to 1837, Lesueur was based in New Harmony, Indiana, where he filled sketchbooks full of the finds discovered during the utopian adventure funded by his friend and former employer, American geologist William Maclure. Lesueur returned to France in 1837, only after his friends Thomas Say and Joseph Barabino had died and William MacClure had returned to Philadelphia, accompanied by many of his fine books. He had spent 21 years in the United States, but continued his scholarly studies and activities in France, where he resumed his occupation of artist-naturalist and began to catalogue his extensive research and artwork. HUGH BRIDPORT was a portrait painter, drawing instructor, architect, and engraver, who practiced lithography in Philadelphia 1828-1830s. Trained at the Royal Academy and with miniature painter Charles Wilkins, Bridport immigrated to Philadelphia with his artist brother George in 1816. WILLIAM W. WOOD (1794-1869), little information available. CORNELIUS TIEBOUT (1773 – 1832) was an American copperplate engraver. Tiebout was among the most active engravers in Philadelphia during his residence there. During 1817-1824, he was a member of the banknote firm of Tanner, Kearney, and Tiebout, located at 10 Library Street, Philadelphia. Tiebout, with daughter Caroline, 23, and son Henry, 5, arrived in New Harmony, Indiana, in October, 1826, and resided there until Tiebout's death. In New Harmony, Tiebout taught in William Maclure's School of Industry and engraved illustrations for Thomas Say's American Entomology, a project which he had begun when both he and Say lived in Philadelphia. GEORGE SHORTREAD LANG (1799-1877) was an "engraver of considerable reputation; he afterwards went into the dry goods business on Eighth Street, from which he retired about ten years ago," according to his 1877 obituary. JAMES BARTON LONGACRE (1794 – 1869) was an American portraitist and engraver, and the fourth chief engraver of the United States Mint from 1844 until his death. Longacre is best known for designing the Indian Head cent, which entered commerce in 1859. (Inventory #: 1552)