Papillons d'Europe

Ernst & Engramelle's work on the butterflies of Europe was originally issued by subscription in 29 fascicles over 13 years. The Cullman Library holds the complete work: eight volumes of text (bound as three) with 342 meticulously and beautifully hand-colored plates in three separate volumes (Paris: Delaguette etc., 1779-1792). Toward the end of the project it was announced that another volume would be produced, but events precluded it significantly—the death by guillotine in 1793 of the chief underwriter of the publication and the death or dispersal of many of the work's wealthy subscribers. Over a century later, just after World War I, a set of plates numbered 1-9 (lacking #6) was discovered in a second-hand bookstore in Paris, and they turned out to be plates that had been prepared for that extra volume. Drawn by Maria Eleonora Hochecker and engraved by Heinrich Andreas Schmidt, they are in excellent condition and beautifully hand-colored. The original published work is held by 16 libraries in the U.S., but none except SIL's seems to include these extra plates.