Fabre's Book of Insects 1936 E J Detmold Tipped-In Illustrated Plates

Condition: Dust jacket shows signs of wear but book itself in very good condition-well looked after. Binding in excellent condition.

 

 Rodolph Stawell; E.J. Detmold, Illustrator

1936 New edition 4th printing

Tudor Publishing Company

Hardcover / Dustjacket, Color Plates

 

See pictures for condition references.

 Hailed by Darwin as "The Homer of Insects," famed French entomologist Jean Henri Fabre (18231915) devoted hours of rapt attention to insects while they hunted, built nests, and fed their families. Working in Provence, in barren, sun-scorched fields inhabited by countless wasps and bees, he observed their intricate and fascinating world, recounting their activities in simple, beautifully written essays. Fabre's absorbing account of the scarab beetle's existence, for example, begins with the ancient Egyptians' symbolic view of this busy creature, eventually leading to a careful discussion of its characteristic method of rolling a carefully sculpted ball of food to its den. Elsewhere, he discusses with infectious enthusiasm the physiologic secrets behind the luminosity of fireflies, the musical talents of the locust, the comfortable home of the field cricket, and the cannibalism of the pious-looking praying mantis, among other topics.