The Aurelian. A natural history of English moths and butterflies, together with the plants on which they feed ... Drawn, engraved, and coloured, from the natural subjects themselves by HARRIS, Moses (1730-c.1788) - 1778

London: Printed for the author ... and with great additions, for J. Robson, 1778. Folio. (18 x 10 7/8 inches). Text and plates printed on laid paper throughout. 2 letterpress titles in English and French (the English title with an engraved vignette), text in English and French in two parallel columns. Engraved frontispiece, 45 hand-coloured engraved plates (comprising: 1 anatomical key plate, 44 plates of butterflies and moths and their transformations). First plate inscribed: "Colour'd by Mr. Ms: Harris Sepr: 1778." Nineteenth century half brown morocco and pebbled cloth covered boards, spine with raised bands in six compartments, tooled in gilt and black on and on either side of each band, lettered in gilt in the second compartment, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers Second and best edition with four more plates than the first: this copy a very rare example colored by the author. Second edition, intermediate issue between Lisney's first and second issue. According to Lisney, the second edition exists in three distinct issues. The first issue is dated 1766 on the English title, has text in French and English, and includes dedications beneath plates 38 and 39. The second issue is dated 1778 on the English title, includes a dedication below plate one, but is otherwise similar to the first issue with text in French and English and dedications beneath 38 and 39. The third issue is dated 1778 (though published later), with text and French and English, but plates 38 and 39 have been re-engraved and the dedications are no longer present. The present example conforms to the first issue in every way (i.e without dedication on plate one, but with dedications on plates 38 and 39), but includes Lisney's second issue English title with the addition of Robson 1778 imprint and with plate two unmounted. Lisney deems Harris "one of the most outstanding authors of entomological literature during the eighteenth century." The present work is his masterpiece and displays a beautiful balance in text and illustration between accurate and innovative observation and plates of the highest artistic merit. "Harris began to take an active interest in entomology about the age of twelve and ... was an accurate and original observer. He was, it is believed, the first to draw attention to the importance of wing neuration [the arrangement or distribution of nerves] in the classification of lepidoptera and upon this principle he arranged the species in his published works, illustrating them in colour with a high degree of accuracy. Harris certainly contributed much to the knowledge of the science and was one of the leading entomologists of his century. He was also a miniature painter of no mean accomplishment" (Lisney p.156). The present an extremely rare example with the plates coloured by Harris himself, with a 1778 inscription below the first plate. Lisney makes mention of such special copies and states that the manuscript inscription "indicates that the plates were coloured by the author throughout." "Moses Harris did much to encourage entomology at a time when the original dynamism of the age of Ray and the first Aurelian Society was waning. He was probably the prime mover in founding the second Aurelian Society ... and in the unsurpassed plates of The Aurelian he left a timeless classic to future generations" (Salmon p.117). Hagen I, p. 341; Lisney 232; Nissen, ZBI 1835; Salmon The Aurelian Legacy (2000) pp.115-117.