Rhopalocera Africae Australis; a catalogue of South African butterflies.

Trimen, (Roland)

2 parts in 1, 7 lithographs (all but 1 hand-coloured), lightly browned in places, contemporary half green calf, bound by R. Scott of Cape Town, with their ticket on front pastedown, gilt spine with red gilt morocco label, rubbed at edges, g.e., marbled en

Collates as per the BM(NH) Cat (p.2140): pt.1: half title, title, dedication leaf, pp. iv [x], 1-190, [4], 1 pl., (List of South African butterflies for labelling collections 3pp.); pt. 2: title, pp. 183-353, [12], [2], 6 pls., (List ... for labelling &c., 4pp.); revised title for both parts bound in at end together with a revised 5pp. content listing. Although the BM(NH) Cat. calls for the labelling lists as integral, these are usually missing, and considered as separate publications. They do not appear in usual on-line collations. OCLC lists 9 complete (i.e. both parts) copies of which only 1 is in Europe at Cambridge (there appears to be a copy of part 1 only at the Bib. d'Hist. Nat.); RLIN has 5 copies, all of which are in the US. KVK only has the Cambridge copy. Surprisingly the British Library only has part 1, confirmed by both OPAC & NSTC.

Trimen (1840-1916) was born in London and entered the Cape Civil Service in 1860 where he served in the offices of the Auditor-Gen., Colonial Sec., Commissioner of Lands and Public Works, Governor, etc. From 1873-95 he was Curator of the South-African Museum, Cape Town; later (1883-4) he was President of the South-African Philosophical Society. In his retirement he became President of the Entomological Society of London (1897-98) and was awarded the Darwin Medal by the Royal Society in 1910. Although Trimen wrote many papers that were extensively published in various scientific journals, he only wrote two books, Rhopalocera Africae Australis being his first.

Not in Nissen; Derksen 284 (part 2 only).