Iconotypes: A compendium of butterflies and moths. Jones’s Icones Complete - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0500024324 ISBN 13: 9780500024324

Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2021

Synopsis

Jones’s Icones contains finely delineated paintings of more than 760 species of Lepidoptera, many of which it described for the first time, marking a critical moment in the study of natural history. With Iconotypes Jones’s seminal work is published for the first time, accompanied by expert commentary and contextual essays, and featuring annotated maps showing the location of each species.

Jones painted the species between the early 1780s and 1800, drawing from his own collection and the collections of Joseph Banks, Dru Drury, Sir James Edward Smith, John Francillon, the British Museum and the Linnean Society. For every specimen painting he provided a species name, the collection from which it was taken and the geographical location in which it was found. In 1787, during a visit to London, the Danish scientist Johann Christian Fabricius studied Jones’s paintings and based 231 species of butterfly and moths on them. In this enhanced facsimile, Jones’s references to historic references are clarified and modern taxonomic names are provided, together with notes on which paintings serve as iconotypes. Contextual commentary by specialist entomologist Richard I. Vane-Wright gives an account of Jones’s life and his motivation for collecting butterflies and creating the Icones, and evaluates the significance of his work. Interspersed at intervals between the pages of Jones’s paintings are modern maps showing the location of each species painted, and expert essays on the development of lepidoptery and taxonomy after Linneaus, and the roles of collectors and natural history artists from the late 1700s to mid-1800s.

With 1600 illustrations in colour

In partnership with Oxford University Museum of Natural History

About this title

About the Author

Richard I. Vane-Wright is an entomologist and taxonomist who has been associated with the Natural History Museum for nearly sixty years. A specialist on butterflies, he retired from the museum in 2004 as Head Keeper of the Department of Entomology. He has 250 journal publications to his name, and books including Milkweed Butterflies and The Seymer Legacy. He is also involved with biodiversity conservation and local entomological projects.

From the Back Cover

Jones’s Icones contains finely delineated paintings of more than 760 species of Lepidoptera, many of which it described for the first time, marking a critical moment in the study of natural history. With Iconotypes Jones’s seminal work is published for the first time, accompanied by expert commentary and contextual essays, and featuring annotated maps showing the location of each species.

Jones painted the species between the early 1780s and 1800, drawing from his own collection and the collections of Joseph Banks, Dru Drury, Sir James Edward Smith, John Francillon, the British Museum and the Linnean Society. For every specimen painting he provided a species name, the collection from which it was taken and the geographical location in which it was found. In 1787, during a visit to London, the Danish scientist Johann Christian Fabricius studied Jones’s paintings and based 231 species of butterfly and moths on them. In this enhanced facsimile, Jones’s references to historic references are clarified and modern taxonomic names are provided, together with notes on which paintings serve as iconotypes. Contextual commentary by specialist entomologist Richard I. Vane-Wright gives an account of Jones’s life and his motivation for collecting butterflies and creating the Icones, and evaluates the significance of his work. Interspersed at intervals between the pages of Jones’s paintings are modern maps showing the location of each species painted, and expert essays on the development of lepidoptery and taxonomy after Linneaus, and the roles of collectors and natural history artists from the late 1700s to mid-1800s.

With 1600 illustrations in colour

Edition details

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0500024324
• ISBN 13: 9780500024324
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 688