British Entomology

British Entomology is a classic work of entomology by John Curtis, FLS.

Described as: "British Entomology, being illustrations and descriptions of the genera of insects found in Great Britain and Ireland; containing coloured figures from nature of the most rare and beautiful species, and in many instances of the plants upon which they are found". The work comprised 770 hand-coloured, copper-plate engravings, each 8 by  5 ¹⁄₂ inches, together with two or more pages of text. The work was issued in monthly parts over 16 years commencing 1st January 1824, each part comprising 3 or more plates. Published in London by the author, with the final part published 1st December 1839.

It was a masterpiece of the engraver's and colourist's art, described by the eminent French naturalist Georges Cuvier as the "paragon of perfection". It was, unsystematically produced but each plate is dated, so this generally introduces no problems of name priority. However, confusion can arise with reprinted plates 1 to 34 (see below) where the text was rewritten, often with changes to nomenclature, yet the date shown on the plate remained that of the earlier initial publication. Every illustration was a extremely fine copper-plate engraving by Curtis himself who also oversaw the meticulous hand colouring. The final issue of the first edition included comprehensive indexes to all volumes plus a complete list of subscribers for each volume and detailed instructions for binding the work into 8 volumes in the correct sequence of orders. Many copies were, however, bound in the alternative manner as 16 volumes with the plates in numerical order. Curtis's original 778 drawings (some drawings were combined to produce a single plate) were purchased by Lord Rothschild who later bequeathed them to the Natural History Museum, London.

At an unknown date, circa 1885, low quality, hand-coloured, lithographic copies of many plates were produced independently and these can frequently be found making-up what would otherwise be an incomplete set (see below).

Aside from its noted illustrations, British Entomology is a work of taxonomy introducing many new species. This is especially true of the folios on Diptera and Hymenoptera where much of the text and probably many of the dissection figures were the work of Alexander Henry Haliday.

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