cover image: Butterflies collected in the Shire Valley, East Africa [graphic] / HW

20.500.12592/rkb9xv

Butterflies collected in the Shire Valley, East Africa [graphic] / HW

1861

Title transcribed from cover. Prints created by pressing or scraping the scales from butterfly wings onto slips of paper, with outlines and some hand-coloring added later. The paper slips are mounted on leaves of brown paper compiled into an album. It appears that two mounted prints may have been removed from one of the leaves, which show traces of adhesive. Each print is identified by the scientific name of its species handwritten in ink. Captions may include information on the butterfly's appearance as a caterpillar, its behavior, usual habitat, location, color, or scarcity. The Cullman Library has a list of the species name for each print on file. The album was previously thought to have have been compiled by Sir John Kirk, as described in the original Russell E. Train collection catalog entry. The album may have been in Kirk's possession at some point. The album has been digitized as part of the Smithsonian Field Book Project. Also available online. English anti-slavery activist and Anglican missionary for the Universities' Mission to Central Africa, which had a station established in the Shire Highlands where Waller was probably based between 1861 and 1862. SCNHRB copy 39088017876038 has the original brown paperboard cover, with title handwritten in ink, signed "HW" [presumably Horace Waller]. Housed in a modern brown cloth clamshell box with built-in book cradle. SCNHRB copy has accession number M079 in the Cullman Library inventory list of the Russell E. Train collection. Elecresource Album of 66 nature prints (lepidochromy) made from 39 butterfly specimens collected by Horace Waller while on a missionary expedition in the Shire Valley region of East Africa.
animals insects butterflies russell e. train africana collection (smithsonian libraries) smithsonian field book project nature prints waller, horace kirk, john

Authors

Waller, Horace 1833-1896, Kirk, John Sir 1832-1922 DSI, Russell E. Train Africana Collection (Smithsonian Libraries), Smithsonian Field Book Project, Waller, Horace 1833-1896 Travel

Dates
[between 1861 and 1862?]
Format
1 album (38 leaves) : 66 original prints ; 15 x 30 cm, in box 19 x 33 cm
Place Discussed
Shire River Valley (Malawi and Mozambique)
Provider
Smithsonian Institution
Published in
United States of America
Source
Digital Public Library of America https://dp.la/item/92115c366f1a7b6c32e479b4c05afd4e

Related Topics

All