The natural history of British insects : explaining them in their several states, with the periods of their transformations, their food, oeconomy, &c. together with the history of such minute insects as require investigation by the microscope : The whole illustrated by coloured figures, designed and executed from living specimens, vol. 16.
London : Printed for the author, and for F. and C. Rivington, 1792-1813.
16 v. : 576 plates (568 col.) ; 24 cm.

Call no.: QL482.G7 D6 1792.

A Fellow of the Linnaean Society, Edward Donovan (1768-1837) was as ambitious as any entomologist, publishing massive, sumptuously illustrated works on the insect faunas of England and its imperial possessions in India and China. A delicate draftsman, obsessed with getting the vibrant colors of his insects correct, Donovan opened a private museum in London in 1807 to display his insect collections and paintings. Sadly, his ambition outpaced public interest, and Donovan died penniless in 1837.

SCUA also houses a fine copy of a later edition of Donovan's important Natural history of the insects of China (London, 1842), originally published in 1798.