Bugs, Bugs, Bugs

Anyone who has taken our Philadelphia Artists hands-on-tour has seen some of the copper plates from American Entomology by Thomas Say, which was published in 1824 by the Academy of Natural Sciences, just up the street from us.

Many of the plates are from drawings by Titian Peale, the youngest son of Charles Willson Peale. Titian grew up helping with Peale’s Museum, which featured many natural history specimens, and like the rest of his family Titian was trained as an artist. His work on American Entomology combines these two loves.

The Rosenbach recently acquired a printed copy of Volumes 1 & 3 of American Entomology. Our plates are from Vol. 3, so it’s wonderful to have the printed version to accompany them. We’ll certainly be making use of our new books in a natural history show coming up this fall, but here are a couple of preview shots.

Here’s the plate on Spectrum bivittatum,a type of walking stick.

Engraved by C. Tiebout from a drawing by Titian Peale. American Entomology: Plate 38. 1828. 2005.253.2

And here’s the printed version, with beautiful hand-coloring.

Thomas Say, American Entomology. Vol. 3. Philadelphia: Academy of Natural Sciences, 1828.

Here’s a plate on butterflies, which were a special interest of Titian’s. The Academy of Natural Sciences preserves his collection of butterfly specimens and makes images of them available online which are well worth a look.

Engraved by C. Tiebout from a drawing by Titian Peale. American Entomology: Plate 46. 1828. 2005.253.9

And here, again, is the printed version.

Thomas Say, American Entomology. Vol. 3. Philadelphia: Academy of Natural Sciences, 1828.

My photos don’t do these lovely illustrations justice, so you’ll just have to come check them out for yourself.