Set of Five Antique Prints of Flies and Hymenoptera Insects, 1861

1861 · Birds, Plants & Natural History

Set of Five Antique Prints of Flies and Hymenoptera Insects, 1861

Name: Set of Five Antique Prints of Flies and Hymenoptera Insects, 1861
Brand: American Maps and Prints
SKU: BG-13214-66, -67, -68, -86, -87
Price: 695 USD
Availability: InStock

$695

€620 · dollar price at today's exchange rate

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Shipping to the United States: $51 standard, $73 express, insured and tracked.

Date: 1861
Kind: Birds, Plants & Natural History
Size: 23.4 × 15.3 cm (9.2 × 6 in)
Condition: Good. General age-related toning. Minor wear and soiling. With original protective sheet attached. Blank verso. Please study image carefully.
Period: Westward Expansion & Civil War
Reference: BG-13214-66, -67, -68, -86, -87

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.

Guaranteed original. This is an original of the period stated, not a later reproduction or print-on-demand copy. If it is ever shown to be otherwise, we refund you in full.

Shipping to the United States. Sent from our gallery in Langweer, the Netherlands, flat between boards or rolled in a tube, and fully insured. Delivery and import charges.

About this piece

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.

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