| Description | A collection of six watercolour paintings which appear to be the origination for 6, of the 32 plates, in F W Frohawk's book The Complete British Butterflies published in 1934. The paintings are executed by a very competent hand but do not have quite the same detail as the original paintings by Frohawk for his other two great butterfly books and which are now housed in the Natural History Museum. I have been unable to find any information as to the whereabouts of the originals for the 1934 book other than a letter from Frohawk to Norman Riley, Keeper of Entomology at the NHM, in which he states that these were copied from images in the earlier two volumes History of British Butterflies 1924. These paintings were found with other material all of which was contained in books from the publishers Ward Lock & Co. It will be seen from the illustrations the following species are featured - Plate 2 Ringlet and Meadow Brown, Plate 6 Marbled White and Grayling, Plate 15 Purple Emperor, Plate 17 Duke of Burgundy, Grizzled and Dingy Skippers, Plate 20 Silver-studded Blue, Brown Argus and Short-tailed Blue, Plate 28 Wood White and Orange-tip. Each sheet, measuring approximately 30 x 25cms, has all the figures shown in the book together with the key numbering and are approximately 125% life-size. All but one are mounted on stiff card and in good clean condition. |
