1. Johannes Goedaert, De insectis, in methodum redactus, cum notularum additione, London: R.E.; Samuel Smith, 1695.
Johannes Goedaert (1617-1668) was a Dutch pioneer of entomology. He was one of the first to write about insects in the Netherlands and other European regions based on his own investigations and observations. His most important book was Metamorphosis naturalis, devoted to the development of insects, for which he made illustrations himself. The illustrations on the folding plate show butterflies and their life cycles.
2. Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst, Gemeinnüzzige Naturgeschichte des Thierreichs, Berlin and Stralsund: Gottlieb August Lange, 1787.
The book about natural history of the animal kingdom by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst (1743–1807). He was a trained theologian and developed his natural history interests alongside his duties as a Lutheran pastor. His special interest were insects and their taxonomy. He also possessed a rich entomological collection. The illustration shown here is from volume 7 of Gemeinnüzzige Naturgeschichte, which is devoted to butterflies, and shows two species from the family Hepialidae.
3 – 4. Carl Gustav Jablonsky, Natursystem aller bekannten in- und ausländischen Insekten, vol. 1.1, vol. 2.1, Berlin: Joachim Pauli, 1783, 1785.
Carl Gustav Jablonsky (1756–1787) was a German naturalist, entomologist and illustrator who worked in Berlin. He collaborated with Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Herbst, with whom he published the series Natursystem aller Insekten. Herbst continued Jablonsky’s research after his early death. Jablonsky worked on the systematic description of insect species and is especially known for his research on beetles. Presented here are the
frontispieces and title pages of the two volumes in the Natursystem series. One was devoted to beetles, the other to butterflies.
5. Edward Donovan, Natur-Geschichte der Chinesischen Insekten, trans. Johann Gottfried Gruber, Leipzig: Industrie-Comptoir, 1802.
Edward Donovan (1768–1837), Anglo-Irish writer, naturalist, and illustrator, unlike the scientists of his day, did not undertake exploratory journeys. He wrote the book on Chinese insects based solely on the exhibits in the collection of an English ambassador to China. The illustration shows a species of grasshopper described as Gryllus morbillosus (now classified as Phymateus morbillosus).