THE MACROLEPIDOPTERA OF THE PALEARCTIC FAUNA Vol. 2: THE PALEARCTIC BOMBYCES & SPHINGES (The Macrolepidoptera of the World. Vol. 2) Division I and II Text and Plates

Stuttgart: Alfred Kernen, 1913. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. First Edition. Folio (30 x 25 cm). The English edition translated by Dr. K. Jordan. Two volumes, complete text & plates. Pp. 479,+ 56 chromolithographed plates. The standard of printing of the plates is outstanding. Bound in contemporary half black morocco leather with cloth-coverd boards, good and strong with a little general wear, corners a little bumped. Contents clean and tight, end papers lightly marked. A very good set of volume 2 covering the Bombyces and the hawkmoths. [Bibliographic note: This work is renowned for its outstanding colour plates, some of which required printing from up to 14 different colour blocks (including metallic inks), resulting in a quality of colour printing so excellent that it has remained unsurpassed. But this meticulous chromolithographic printing was incredibly expensive and labour intensive. The project was hugely ambitious - to cover every known species of the World's Macrolepidoptera, but it was plagued by setbacks including two world wars and was never finished; after almost 50 years the project finally came to an end in 1954. The most important collections of butterflies and moths were consulted including those of L. W. Rothschild of Tring, the British Museum, the Paris Natural History Museum, and so on. Comparatively recently, having been out of print for over half a century, a number of original sets were discovered in the printer's warehouse and these have been marketed with a hefty price tag.].