Close-ups
Framed and on the wall
Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look; the description says what is included.
Set of Five Antique Prints of Flies and Hymenoptera Insects, 1861
$695 (£525, €620)
Period original, not a reproduction.
Shipped from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.
- Date
- 1861
- Size
- 9.2 × 6 in (23.4 × 15.3 cm)
- Condition
- Good. General age-related toning. Minor wear and soiling. With original protective sheet attached. Blank verso. Please study image carefully.
- Period
- Late 19th century
- Section
- Insects and butterflies
- Reference
- f_34630812
- Colour
- Hand coloured
What the condition grades mean
- Excellent
- Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
- Very good
- Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
- Good
- Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
- Fair
- Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Five plates of flies and hymenoptera from the Dictionnaire universel d'histoire naturelle, edited by Charles Henry Dessalines d'Orbigny and published in 1861. Each is a hand-colored engraving headed "Dict. Univ. d'Hist. Nat." and "Insectes", and the sets are labeled "Diptères" for the flies and "Hymenoptères" for the bees, wasps and their relatives.
The two fly plates show hover flies and robber flies in a mix of sizes: some are dark and bristled with transparent wings, others are orange and black with long bodies and smoky wings, set out with numbered figures. The three hymenoptera plates show bees and wasps in rich metallic and orange tones, including blue-black and green forms, shown with outline drawings of antennae and legs for identification, and the lettering beneath each plate lists the species by French and Latin name.
D'Orbigny was a French botanist and geologist who identified many of the flowering plant species returned to France from his brother's natural history collecting journeys through South America.
