The Butterflies of North America ― Titian Peale's Lost Manuscript

The American artist and naturalist Titian Ramsay Peale II (1799–1885) had a passion for butterflies, and throughout his long life he wrote and illustrated an ambitious and comprehensive manuscript. The book, along with a companion volume on caterpillars, was never published, and it resides today in the Rare Book Collection of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Now Peale’s color plates, lovingly prepared for the printer by the artist more than 100 years ago, will be published for the first time in this beautiful volume. At last, Peale’s life work, equivalent in scope and beauty to Audubon’sBirds of North America, will be available to a wide audience. The book includes a foreword by Ellen V. Futter and text by Kenneth Haltman and David A. Grimaldi that describes the art and science Peale brought to his extraordinary work.

Kenneth Haltman is H. Russell Pitman Professor of Art History at the University of Oklahoma.

David A. Grimaldi is Curator at the American Museum of Natural History and the author ofEvolution of the Insects.

Ellen V. Futter is President of The American Museum of Natural History.

The American Museum of Natural History in New York is one of the world’s preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions.