CRAMER (Pieter). Exotic butterflies of the three parts of the world, Asia, Africa and America. De Uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie woerelddeelen Asia, Africa en America. Amsterdam, S. J. Baalde ; Utrecht, Barthélémy Wild, 1779-1782. 4 volumes in-4, marbled calf, spine decorated, red edges (period binding). First edition of one of the most beautiful books on butterflies ever printed. A masterpiece of entomological literature, Pieter Cramer's work is the first treatise on exotic Lepidoptera to be organised according to the new system developed by Carl von Linné (1707-1778). Bilingual, it contains two-column descriptions in French and Dutch of more than 1,650 species of butterfly, many of which are presented here for the first time. Published in thirty-four issues between 1775 and 1784, the work was followed by an important supplement by Caspar Stoll, which appeared in five issues between 1787 and 1791. Splendid colour illustrations of numerous butterfly specimens on 400 magnificent plates, drawn on the originals by G. W. Lambertz, engraved in intaglio and watercoloured under the direction of Pierre Cramer. These plates are complemented by a finely coloured title-frontispiece and allegorical frontispiece, the former engraved by C. J. de Huyser after Aa L...r, the latter by Th. Koning after J. Buys. Pieter Cramer (1721-1776) was a wool merchant and entomological collector who built up a rich natural history collection brimming with butterflies from every latitude in the world, thanks to his contacts with Dutch traders and settlers abroad and sailors from the East India Company. When Cramer set about cataloguing his collection, he commissioned the painter Gerrit Wartenaar Lambertz to draw the specimens in his possession, as well as those in other cabinets. Lambertz's precious collection of original drawings is now in the Natural History Museum in London. Caspar Stoll produced a one-volume continuation of the work, published in Amsterdam in 1791. From the library of Petit, écuyer, conseiller au présidial de Soissons, with a contemporary coat-of-arms stamp on the dedication page. Covers and corners missing, several jaws beginning to split, stamps scratched on titles, text missing from dedication (pp. i-ii of first volume). Nissen, ZBI, n°985 - Brunet, II, 404 - Cohen, 262.