A Decade of Curious Insects

London: Printed for the Author, 1773. 24, (2), 10 fine hand-coloured engraved plates. . HB. 4to (270x210mm), attractive 19th century half morocco, marbled boards. Binder's ticket 'Woolman, Stockton on Tees'. Occasional minor spotting, minor dust soiling to a few page corners. Fine copy.. 'Some of them not describ'd before: Shewn in their natural size; and as they appear enlarg'd before the Lucernal Microscope; In which the Solar Apparatus is artificially illuminated. With their History, Characters, Manners, and Places of Abode'. A printed note to the verso of title reads 'Ladies who may chuse to paint these insects themselves may have sets of the cuts on Royal Paper printed pale for that purpose'. This work was also published under the title 'Insects in their Natural Size and as they appear before the Microscope'.Illustrated with charming, vivid hand coloured engraved plates of greatly enlarged microscopic insects, some of which appear rather inaccurate. Hagen states, 'Fabricius nennt die Abbildungen ‘fictitiae’ wohl mit Unrecht, da durch künstliche Beleuchtung nicht achromatischer Gläser offenbar Hill die Sachen so sah, wie er sie abbildet.' [Fabricius called the illustrations 'fictitiae' probably unfairly, because with artificial lighting without achromatic lenses apparantly Hill saw things as he depicted them].Hagen I, p. 366; Nissen ZBI, 1938..