The dates of E. J. C. Esper's Die Schmetterlinge in Abbildungen… 1776–[1830

Abstract

The work on European Lepidoptera by Eugen Johann Christoph Esper (1742—1810) entitled Die Schmetterlinge in Abbildungen nach derNatur mit Beschreibungen was issued in parts of text and plates in a non-sequential manner over a period of thirty-one years from 1776 to 1807, with a posthumous part added in 1830. Sherborn and Woodward (1901) provided dates for various parts of Esper's work but their dates are incomplete and in part incorrect. Examination of copies of Esper's work still retaining the original covers in the libraries of Cornell University, the British Museum (Natural History), and the Landessammlungen fur Naturkunde, Karlsruhe, has provided revised dates in many instances. To provide the most accurate dates currently known for Esper's work, the following summary of original covers and contents is presented. The issuance of Esper's work is an entomologist's and a librarian's nightmare of confusion: the work was issued in Bogen (or signatures) covering 47 (or booklets) in (or parts) 1 to 4; another 10 Hefte in Theil 5; Hefte 48-54 and 49-54 in Abschnitt (or section) 1 and 2, respectively, of the second Band (or volume) of Theil 4; and another 32 Hefte as Fortsetzung (or continuation) and Supplement to Theile 1 to 3; a total of 2591 pages of text together with 438 plates issued at various dates with this confusion of Hefte, Theile, Bande, and Abschnitte! An asterisk indicates parts where the original wrapper is unknown. Dates have been assigned in brackets to these parts based upon best available evidence or for the inclusive range of dates of preceding and successive parts, although for nomenclatural purposes only the last date of any assumed range counts in terms of priority. The 1807 ending date for the latest part is our best current estimate as based on evidence provided by Sherborn and Woodward (1901) and the Catalogue of the Library of the British Museum (Natural History). The 1830 date for one part involves a second edition issued by Toussaint von Charpentier.