Antique Butterfly Prints Hand Colored Lithograph Herman Strecker 1873 Reading PA

Description: This listing is for a grouping of 4 original butterfly monographs by naturalist Herman Strecker (1836-1901) titled “Lepidoptera, Rhopaloceres And Heteroceres”. Printed by Owen’s Steam Book And Job Printing Office, 515 Court Street, Reading, Pa. The monographs are individually numbered 4, 5, 8, and 9. Strecker produced this series in 15 parts from 1872 to 1878 with assistance from scientific illustrator and colorist Emily L. Morton (1841-1920). The 4 monographs offered here are dated 1873 and 1874. Each monograph is formatted with paper cover wraps, 8 pages of descriptive text plus a single tissue-protected hand colored lithograph showing the species described in the text. Size is 9 1/8” inches x 11 1/2” inches. Self published with limited resources as an edition of only 300 copies, the set sold out quickly and was scarce even by 1900. The single lithographic stone was reused for each succeeding part, making it impossible for the set to ever be reissued in its original form. Over a period of 40 years, Herman Strecker (known as “The Butterfly Man”) accumulated the most comprehensive collection of butterflies and moths in the Western Hemisphere. The collection, which he kept at his home in Reading, Pennsylvania, was purchased for $15,000 in 1908 by the Field Museum in Chicago, and the Strecker specimens still represent a core portion of that institution’s butterfly holdings. Condition - Paper shows general handling wear consistent with age. The cover wraps are printed on thin paper stock and show varying degrees of soiling, stain marks, chips, tears, etc. The monographs are not conventionally bound but are tied together with thin string though small holes in the margins. The sting has snapped on part No. 4, so those pages are loose. The text pages are in generally good condition. There is visible bleed-through onto the text page from the adjoining color litho page in issue No. 9. The hand colored lithographs are printed on heavier paper stock and are in good condition overall. Colors are bright and unfaded. The litho in No. 8 has a smudge in a blank area at the top of the sheet. U.S. Buyers Only No International Shipping

Price: 399.99 USD

Location: Claymont, Delaware

End Time: 2025-01-15T19:37:31.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD