Butterfly People: An American Encounter with the Beauty of the World

This work treats the 19th century and early 20th century American butterfly collectors and authors. Figures such as William Henry Edwards, who wrote a three volume treatise with lithographs done by Audubon's female colorists, Samuel Hubbard Scudder, who did a three volume treatise on Butterflies of New England (and was the expert on fossil butterflies to boot), and , as well as W. J. Holland, who did the popular Butterfly Book and Moth Book are heroes of my childhood who are covered. I wish the author had said more about Holland's economic basis and his relations with Carnegie. Similarly I wish he had more to say about W. H. Edwards' collecting in western boom towns such as Silver City, NV, and Glennwood Springs, CO (if indeed there is any material on this available. More than a mention of Schaus of Schaus' Swallowtail, the extreme rarity of the Florida Keys would have been desirable.Two of the most colorful characters of butterfly collecting, Lord Rothschild (who wore white top hat and tails and travelled in a buggy pulled by Zebras, and whose daughter became a world expert on fleas) and Vladimir Nabokov (whom I knew of as a butterfly expert a decade before I knew he was an author) get only brief mentions, as one is British and the other is mostly later in time. Pyle's collection of Nabokov on butterflies supplements this work. Another area that would have improved the coverage would be more discussion of the centrality of butterflies and moths to evolution and ecology on metamorphosis, mimicry, ecological genetics (Wallace, Bates, August Weismann, Goldschmidt, E. B. Ford, the Browers). This is touched on, but there is a great deal more to be said. The author is an American historian, not a scientist or science popularizer, but he could have done more. Despite these lacunae the book is unique in covering this topic of early American butterfly collectors at length. It also has some very nice color plates of the illustrations from early works.

Technically it may be an ethical violation for me to review this book, since I was consulted regularly by the author, read the MS and offered detailed feedback, and blurbed it on the jacket. So naturally I think it's wonderful. Objectively, it is. But to pique the interest of potential readers, I will mention something that isn't obvious: the great butterfly workers of the 19th and early 20th centuries may have been splendid scientists, but they were often prickly and difficult people. There's more fussin', fightin' and feudin' in here than in a history of the moonshining industry. And it's fascinating stuff that sheds light on how science actually gets done and evolves over time...which one would expect, given that the author is a distinguished historian, not a pulp writer. As they say, it's a great read. Check it out.

I was expecting to read many interesting things about the people who form the pioneering fabric of the study of butterflies; and, I expected that it would be engaging, as I am interested in the subject. Nevertheless, I was surprised to find a wealth of ancillary material beyond the main text of the book in the form of notes to the chapters. This material alone runs about 77 pages, and is fascinating all by itself: a treasure to mine over time.The writing is excellent, evocative when needed, and a pleasure to reread, which one does, due to the complexities of the relationships and events that fill these pages.

This is a new book, with information on n butterfly conservation.

This is a focused history of an important era for natural history in America and the cast of characters who acted out the drama, well done. The kind of history that makes the times come alive. As a boyhood collector the book brought back vivid memories. I have brought it to the attention of local butterfly gardeners and butterfly raisers. The book makes a good supplement to field guides.

Informative history and an excellently researched manuscript.

McLovin' it. Insightful!

Nice!

Fully satisfied.

Pour tous les amoureux d'entomologie, c'est vraiment un livre magnifiqueJe le recommande chaudementVive les papillons et vive les entomologistes