[NHCOLL-L:1010] Avinoff/Shoumatoff Historical Book Collection Available
Johnson, Kurt
JohnsonK at Coudert.com
Tue Apr 17 15:00:22 EDT 2001
I am making the following "library-for-sale" notice available, as it was
supplied to me, simply as a courtesy to the family owners. I have no
commerical, or other, connection to the offer. For details contact Alex
Shoumatoff at
103456.1006 at compuserve.com
I believe the book/journal/letters collection is valued for sale at circa
$100,000.00 US.
submitted by
Dr. Kurt Johnson
Environmental Affairs
The Ethical Culture Foundation (American Ethical Union)
NY, NY
THE AVINOFF-SHOUMATOFF LEPIDOPTEROLOGICAL, ENTOMOLOGICAL, AND
NATURAL-HISTORY COLLECTION
ABOUT AVINOFF
Andrey Avinoff (1886-1949) was one of the great pre-revolutionary
Russian lepidopterists . In his twenties he inherited a bachelor uncle's
real-estate fortune and sank it completely into butterflies, financing 42
collecting expeditions between l909 and l914, many of which he went on
himself (notably to western Tibet in l912). Most of the 80,000 specimens he
eventually accumulated were from Central Asia. Avinoff specialized in the
genera Karanasa and Parnassius. His most lasting contribution to
lepidopterology was probably his monograph, decades ahead of its time, on
the
Karanasa, for whom central Asia is an evolutionary cauldron, with numerous
subspecies in isolated mountain valleys shading and blending into each
other.
The Avinoff collection was impounded by the Bolsheviks and is housed in
the Museum of Science in St. Petersburg. Avinoff was a generation before
Vladimir Nabokov, who based the epic central Asian butterfly collector,
Konstantin Godunov-Cherdyntsev, in his novel "The Gift" on him. According
to Kurt Johnson and Steve Coates's new book, "Nabokov's Blues," Avinoff was
the first person Nabokov contacted when he came to America. While both
shared
a passion for butterflies, Avinoff was a painter. He produced over his
lifetime a huge number of exquisite, extraordinarily detailed watercolors,
mostly of flowers and butterflies, which were scientifically accurate but
often surreal, phantasmagorical, and mystical. An elegant, incredibly
erudite
and multi-faceted, protean figure in the tradition of Da Vinci, Avinoff was
equally at home in the worlds of art and science, spoke seven languages and
read ten more, and was an expert on Russian icons, Persian miniatures, and
many other recondite subjects.
Educated by private tutors on the family estate in the Ukraine, Avinoff
was trained as a lawyer and diplomat at the University of Moscow, and became
a gentlemen-in-waiting to the last tsar. In October, 1917 he was sent to New
York on a purchasing mission by the soon-to-be toppled Kerensky government.
He left with his sister on the last train out of St. Petersburg before the
Revolution, taking only one book from his 7,000-volume entomological
library,
a hundred hand-painted plates by the 18th-century American naturalist, John
Abbott, for a work that was never published. When they arrived in New York
several months later, the Russia that Avinoff knew and loved was over. After
a brief, promising career as a commercial artist, producing Art Deco
toothpaste tubes for Colgate and cigarette packs for Parliament, in l926 he
became an assistant curator of entomology at the Carnegie Museum in
Pittsburgh, under the great William Holland.Within a year Avinoff rose to
become the director of the museum, a position he held until his retirement
in
l946.
During the l930s Avinoff and his nephew Nicholas Shoumatoff made six
trips to Jamaica, netting 14,000 specimens which are still the definitive
collection of the island's butterflies and moths. In America Avinoff
assembled a second entomological library, which he left to his nephew upon
his death. These books, along with an important 3,000 volume library on
Russian Decorative Art (which has just been acquired by Hillwood, Marjorie
Meriweather Post's estate in Washington which has the best collection of
imperial Russian art outside Russia), remained for 50 years in Shoumatoff's
library in Bedford, New York, and with his death last year, Shoumatoff's
children are offering them for sale. The collection is of interest to
artists interested in the iconography of butterflies as well as to
scientists, as many of the books, some centuries old, are illustrated with
magnificent color plates. It is of particular interest to historians of
lepidopterology. In it are the works of Avinoff's colleagues and
contemporaries like Holland, Charles Oberthur, and Roger Verity, often with
inscriptions to him.
Avinoff was twice profiled in the New Yorker, in l948 by Geoffrey
Hellman, and in l983 by his great-nephew Alex Shoumatoff, whose book,
Russian
Blood, remains the most detailed source on his career. Maraleen
Manos-Jones' devotes a section to him in her recent book, The Spirit of
Butterflies published by Harry Abrams.
ABOUT THE COLLECTION
All items are arranged by author, title, place of publication, publisher,
and
date of publication, followed by book description if a factor in the
evaluation either positively or negatively.
TOTAL PRICE OF THE COLLECTION, appraised according to actual market value as
of
March, 2001 : $104,693
CONTACT :
Alex Shoumatoff
4579 Rue Jeanne Mance
Montreal, Quebec H2V4J5
telephone : 415-373-8610
e-mail : [103456.1006 at compuserve.com]
LIST ONE : the Mountain Room books
Alferaki, Sergei Nikolaevich. Lepidopteres du district de Kouldja et des
montagnes environnantes, 2 vols. In 1 (St. Petersburg; Besbrasoff, 1881);
col. pls.
Annals of Carnegie Museum, "Five new species and one new subspecies of
butterflies from the Sierra De Baoruco of Hispaniola," by Kurt Johnson and
David Matusik, vol. 57 (15 Sept. 1988).
Avinoff, Andrey and N. Shoumatoff. Annotated list of the butterflies of
Jamaica, vol. 30, Annals of the Carnegie Museum (Pittsburgh: 13 Dec. 1946);
2 copies, $16 each
Avinoff, Andrey. Some new and undescribed Jamaican butterflies, vol. 28,
Annals of the
Carnegie Museum (Pittsburgh: 22 May 1941).
Berge, Friedrich, Atlas Colore Des Papillon d'Europe (Paris : Bailere et
Fils, 1901); 3/4 leather
binding
Berge, Friedrich. Berge's Schmetterlings-Buch (Stuttgart: Jul. Hoffmann,
1870); col. pls., 4to, _3/4 leather binding
Boisduval, Jean Baptiste Alponse Deschauffeur de. Histoire naturelle des
insectes, vols. 9 and 10 (Paris: Roret, 1857).
Boisduval, Jean Baptiste... Histoire naturelle des insectes... vol. 1, 1833
edition). 2 copies.
______, Histoire generale des Lepidopteres et chenilles de l'Amerique
Septentrionale.
Boisduval, Jean Baptiste. Icones historiques des lepidoptreres
nouveaux ou peu connus
Collection... (Paris: Roret, 1832 and 1834); marble boards, 2 vols.
Butler, Arthur Gardiner. Lepidoptera exotica... (London: E. W.
Janson, 1874); 4to, col. pls.
Butler, Arthur... Sphingidae (London: British Museum, 1875); 4to
Distant, William Lucas. Rhopalocera Malayana... (London: Authorand
West & Newman & Co.
1882-1886); 4to, 3/4 morocco
Godart, J. B. Histoire naturelle des lepidopteres, 4 vols. (Paris:
cheez Crevot, 1822). Also original monograph for Vol. 2.
Repaired leather binding with gilt trim
Doubleday, Edward and John Obadiah Westwood. Genera of durnal
lepidoptera: Comprising their generic characters, a notice of their habits
and transformations, and a catalogue of the species of each genus, 3 vols.
(London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1846-1852); fol.,
marbled boards, 3/4 morocco
Drury, Dru. Illustrations of exotic entomology, new ed.., 3 vols.
(London: Henry G. Bohn, 1837); 4 to, 3/4 buckrom binding (1 xtra vol 1)
Duponciel, M. P. Iconographie et histoire naturelle, 2 vols. (Paris:
Germer Balliere, 1849); 1/2__leather binding
Etudes de lepidopterologie comparee, vols. 9-19 (1914-1922); includes a
signed letter from the editor, Charles Oberthur to Audrey Avinoff.
Felder, Rudolf and Cajetan Felder. Novara expedition (Wien: 1864); fol.,
1/4 leather
Herrich-Schaffer. Die Schmetterlinge der inset Cuba. Regensburg:
Druck der Neubauer'schen Buchdruckerei, 1864-71.
Hewitson, William Chapman. Descriptions of new Indian lepidopterous
insects from the collection. W. A. A. (Calcutta: Asiatic Society of
Bengal, 1870); fol.
Kirby, William Forsell, Revision of the Subfamily Libellulinae, Transactions
of the Zoological Society of London, vol 12, part 9 (August 1889)
Hewitson, William C. Illustrations of diurnal lepidoptera: lycaenidae, 2
vols. in I (London: John van Woorst 1862-78); 4to; pls. 136 and 137 missing
Johnston, Edith Farrington. Strange visitor. NY: Macmillan, 1947; dj,
2 copies, each
Lathy, Percy 1. Theses entomologiques (lepidopteres) (Paris: Helig
Dujardin. 192 1) -, fol., IO col. pls, 3/4 red morocco with marble boards
Marshall. G. F. L. Butterflies of India, Burma and Ceylon, 3 vols.
(Calcutta Central Press, 1882); 3/4 green morocco
Martinet, Alexander. 32 colored engraved plates: fol.
Meuer, A. B. Mittheilungen aus dem k. zoologischen museum (Dresden:
Verlag von R. Z. Zahn, 1875); fol.
Moschler, H. B. Die Lepidopteren-Fauna der insel portorico.
[Frankfurt?] 1890; Avinoff bookplate
Oberthur, Charles, Contributions a 1'etude des grands ledopteres
d'Australie (Rennes: Imprimerie Oberthur, 1916); 4to
Rippon, Robert Henry. Fernando. Plates of lepidoptera Rippon, Ceylon
lepidoptera (London: Transactions of the London Entomology Society [circa
1851 Moore plates]
Schenker, M. Reded Schwizertutschl (Lausanne: Librairie Pavot, 1941).
Seitz, Adalbert. Butterfly covers, 2 vols. (Stuttgart: Affred Kerner
Verlag [1931] 204 separate
covers
Seitz, Adalbert. Gross Schmetterling der erde supplerment, vol. 1
(1929-32); unbound.
Seitz, Adalbert. Lepidoptera of the world 2 vols. (Stuttgart: Vertag
des Seitz 'schen werkes, 1907, 1913and 1914)-, 1907 English edition.; 4
vol.s.& 1 xtra, 2 copies vol. 1 1 copy not original, colored plates
Snelien van Vollenhoven, S. C. Essai d'une faune entomologique. De
l'archipel indo-neerlandais.. (La Haye: Martinus Nijhoff,
1865); fol., 1/4 red morocco with marble boirds, bookplate of Durae Godman
Frederick
Staudinger, Otto, Exotische schmetterlinge (Furth. V. G. Lowensohn,
1888): fol, col. pls.
Staudinger's Papers, ca. 1880's.
Staudinger, Otto. Exotische tagfalter in systcmtische reihenfolge
(Furth: Veriag von G. Lowensohn, 1888); fol.
Stichel, Hans. Ledoptera rhopaeocera, Palearctic Butterflies (1905-06),
fol., part 31 and 37 bound with Wytsman, General insectorum (Bruxelles: V.
Verteneuil & L. Desmet, 1905-06), fol.
Stichel Hans. Ledoptera. Rhopalocera. Fam. Riodinidae (Bruxelles: V.
Verteneuil et L. Desmet, 1911); fol.
Strecker, Herman. Lepidoptera, rhopalocera and heteracera (Reading,
PA: author, 1972-7); fol, w/ signed illustration to Dr. Avinoff, R. Bruce
Horsfall
Swainson, William. Zoological illustrations. Birds (London: Baldwin &
Cradack, and Jay, 1829-33);
3/4 marble boards; bookplate of W. J. Holland Library., Total 6
vols.
Including "The Shells" and the Insects.
Verity, Ruggero.. Le Farfalle diurne d'Italia, 8 vols. Firenze,
Italy: Casa Editrice Marzocco, 1940-53; fol., pb, nos. 37 and 90 (signed)
196, 222, 249, 282, 817, 882 of 1,000 numbered copies.
Verity, Roger. Rhopalocera palaearctica: Iconographie et description
des papillons diurnes de la region palearctique Papilionidae et Pieridae.
Florence, Italy: R. Verity,
1905-1911; xii [88] leaves of plates ( 3 folded) chiefly illus.
(some col.); 34
cm. , & 2nd unbound set of plates of text ($150)
Originally issued with text, in 27 livraisons, numbred 1 to 25, 26-29 and
30-36, between 1905 and 1911. Plates numbered A-B, 1-12, and I-LXXII.
Plate
vol. Also includes the 2 folded maps.
----, "Revision of the Linnean Types for Palearctic Rhopalocera," Linnean
Society Journal, vol 32
(May l913)
Westwood, J. 0. Arcana entomologica... insects 2 vols. (London: William
Smith, 1841-1845); Hand colored pls., morroco binding; 2 vols.
Wood, W. Index entomologicus; or, a complete illustrated catalogue...
new and rev. ed. (London: G. Willis, 1854); col. pls.
Wright, William Greenwood, Butterflies of the West Coast of the United
States, San Fernadino, l906
LIST TWO : RARE BOOKS
Aristotelis de natura, aut de rerum principiis. Ibri viii. Parisiis:
Ex officina iacobi du puys,
sub figno samaritana, 1577, 8vo, 3/4 leather with marbled boards
Bound with: Aristotelis de ortu & interitu libri dvo... Parisiis: ex
officina iacobi du Puys,
sub figno Samaritane...1577.
Aristotelis de animo, libri III... Parisiis: ...1577
Estimated value: $1,400
Aristotelis libelli, qui Parua naturali vvlgo appellantvr...
Parisiis...1577
Aristotelis liber de mundo, ad alexandrvm mace doniae regem, Gulielmo
Budao interprete.
Parisiis...1577.
Aristotelis de Caelo libri IIII... Prisisiis...1577.
Aristotelis meteorologicorum libri qvatvor...Parisiis:...1577; illus.
Baptistae, Io. Portae neapolitani magiae naturalis libri viginti...
Frankfort: Apud Andrae
Wechil heredes, 1597, 8vo, xxxvi, 669 [I] woodcut diagrams, 1/2
leather binding, needs
repairs
Beckmanno, Johann De historia naturali veterum libellus primus.
Petropoli et Gottingae: Impensis Dieterichianis, 1766; 246 p., 18 cm.
Leather with amorial seal and marbled inside covers. Pre-Linnean works.
Butterfly unbound vol. with 187 hand col. illus. pls.. of butterflies,
oblong, 16 mo.
Compendium naturalis phlosophiae. .. Parisiis: Apud Ioannem de
Roigny, 1562; leather
bound, spine needs repairs
Cosmopolite ou nouvelle lumiere chymique, pour servir declaircissement
aux triosprincipes de la nature...Derniere edition, revue & augmentee des
letters philosophiques du mesme auteur (Paris: Chez Laurent D'Houry,
1691),
16 mo, contemporary calf, needs to be rebacked
Cuvier, Baron. Animal kingdom...with figures designed after
nature...by M. Latreille, 4 vols. London: G. Henderson, 1834- 1837; thick
8vo., approximately 730 copper plates with nearly 600 hand colored; 3/4
leather, bindings need repairs.
Dumont D'Urville (sous la dir. De m.) Voyage pittoresque autour du
monde. Resume general des voyages de decouvertes...P., Tenre, 1834-1835.
Published: de l'imprimerie de firmin didot, 1821; American Museum of
Natural
History, Central Park, NY book stamp.
Gadroys, c. Le Systeme du monde, selon les trois hypotheses, ou
conformenent auxParis: Guill, Deesprez, 1675; woodcuts and diagrams., 8vo,
457 pp., book stamp of Petit Seminaire de St. Meen, 1825, amorial seals on
both back and front covers, full leather binding. Enligtening statement of
the universe and its motion as understood at this time.
This little known book which discusses the motion of the moon,
planets, and transmissions of light.
Goedaert, Johannes. Metamorphosis et historiae naturalis insectorum.
Middelburg:Apud Johannem Martinum Bibliopolas [1667] vellum, col. pls.
Goedaert, Johannes. Metamorphosis naturalis, ofte historische
beschryvinghe van den
oirspronk, aerd, eygenschappen ende vreemde veranderinghen der
wormen, rupsen,
maeden, vliegen, witjes, byen, motten... Middelburg: Jaques
Fierens, 1662-1669; small
8vo, [40] 152, 16; [24] 288 [16]; [18] 208 with 3 (2 hand colored
engraved frontispieces,
1 hand colored engraved portrait of Goedaert and 152 hand colored
engraved plates on
126 leaves. Boards missing, Harvard College Library duplicate
stamp. First basic work of entomology. First colored plate book in the
Low
Countries.
Le Comte, Louis D. Topographical, physical, mathematical, mechanical,
natural, civil, and ecclesiastical made in a late journey through the
empire of
China...London: Benj.
Tooke, 1698; 8vo, fold map, 3 fold illus., fine binding, leather
tooled.
Linnaei, Carolus [Carl von Linne] Systema naturae sistens regna tria
naturae in classes et
ordines genera et species redacta, istotelis Artabulisque aeneis
illustrata... Lugduni
Batavorum: Apud theodorum Haak, 1756. Full leather with some
inside spine repairs,
marbled inside boards
1809 edition of the above title.
Lono ive operi instinto legect Lphire mind comprendium Laire befts.
Venchif: 1519;
bound with Clarissimi viri hygini poeticon astronomi, 1517; vellum,
some damp stains
on some illus. pls; 47 leaves.
Mattioli, Pietro Andrea. I discorsi di M. Pietro Andrea Mattioli
Medico Sanese, ne Isei libri della material medicinale di Pedacio Dioscoride
Anazarbeo con I veri ritratti delle piante & de gli animali, nouvamente
aggiuntivi dai medisimo...[2nd ed.] Venezia: Appresso gli Heredi di
Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1555; [88] 741 p. illus., fol., 29 cm, 1/2 leather. 18
May 1984 Christies book mark #146.
Pierre, Costalu Pegma, Cum narrationibus philosophicis (Lyons: Apud
Matthiam
Bonhomme, 1555); 8vo, illus. with wood cut engravings, rebound in
3/4 leather binding
with marbled boards
Plinius, the elder [C. Secundi] Historiae naturalis libri XXXVII, 3
vols. Leiden: ex
officina Elzeviriana, 1635; 12 mo, leather, need binding repairs,
one cover is missing,
full leather. Only Elizevier edition, Pliny's natural history,
edited by Jean de Laet
Willems.
Roesel, von Rosenhof, August Johann. Der monatlich-herausgegebenen
Insecten
Belustigung Theil und Nachtragsband, 4 vols. Nurnberg: Johann
Joseph
Fleischmann, 1746-1761; 4to, 3 hand colored engraved pls.,
contemporary mottled
calf, marbled inside covers, bindings need repairs. Christies Book
mark #150
LIST THREE : SUPPLEMENT
Antram, Charles B., Butterflies of India, Calcutta, l924
Austaut, Jules Leon, Les Parnassiens, Leipzig, 1889
Berg, Carlos, Contribucion al Estudio de la Fauna Entomologica de Patagonia,
Buenos Aires
1877
Bingham, Lt. Col. C.T., The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and
Burma, two vols. 1905,
1907, London
Burr, Malcom, The Insect Legion, London, 1939
Cary Margaret, Sugar Down the Wind, Lancaster
Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of the British Museum, 18 vols., 1905-13
Carthy, J.D., Animal Navigation, New York, 1956
Cheesman, Evelyn, Hunting Insects in the South Seas, 1932
Chenu, le Dr., Encyclopedia d'Histoire Naturelle, vol. 1 papillons diurnes,
vol 2 papillons
nocturnes, 1876, two sets of both vols
Curran, C.H., Insects of the Pacific World, Macmillan, l945
Dognin, Paul, Papers on Lepidoptera, 1891-1910
Druce, Hamilton H., Illustrations of African Lycaenidae
Dyar, H.G., Miscellaneous Papers, l893-7
Emmons, E., Natural History of New York, vol. 5 agriculture and insects,
l854
Evans, W.H., A Catalogue of the American Hesperiidae, British Museum, l951
Evans, W.H., A Catalogue of the Hesperiidae from Europe, Asia, and
Australia, London, l951
Elwes, H.J., On Butterflies of the Genus Parnassius, bound volume of the
proceedings of the
Zoological Society of London, January 19, l886
Entomological Papers, 1871-1883
Fabricius, J. Chr., Systema Glossatorum, Neubrandenburg 1938
Forbes, W.T.M., Heterocera of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands, New York
Academy of
Sciences, l930
Furneaux, W., Butterflies and Moths (British), London, 1894, two copies
Howard, L.O., ed., Insect Life, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 7 vols.
1889-95
Humphreys, H.Noel, The Genera of British Moths, London
----, and Westwood, J.O., British Moths and Their Transformations, 1945, one
vol of two,
missing front cover board, London, 1845, nice color plates
Kappel, A.W. and Kirby, W. Egmont, British and European Butterflies and
Moths, London, l895,
Insects, the Year book of Agriculture, l952
Kirby,W.F., Scopoli, Butler, Tutt, papers, bound volume. 1816-1894
Kirby, W.F., A Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera, London, 1871,
----, supplement, 1871-1877
Kirsch, Th. Beitrag zur kenntniss der lepidopteren von New Guinea (Dresen,
l877); bookplate of
Herbert Druce,
Leach, John Henry, Butterflies from China, Japan & Corea, 2 vols. (London :
R.H. Porter,
1892-94)
4to, marble boards
Lepidoptera Miscellaneous, 1853-64
Lintner, Joseph Albert, Entomological Contributions
Longstaff, George B., Butterfly-hunting in Many Lands, New York
Matthews, Patrick, The Pursuit of Moths and Butterflies, London, l957
Morris, F.O., A History of British Butterflies, London, 1865
Noel, A., Papillons d'Europe, early 1900s with plates
Packard, A.S.,. Monograph of the Geometrid Moths, U.S. Geological Survey of
the Territories,
l876
----, Monograph of the Bombycine Moths, National Academy of Sciences, Vol.
1X, l905
Robert, Leo Paul, Les Chenilles, Neuchatel 1934
Robert, Paul A., Les Papillons dans la Nature, Neuchatel l934
Smith, H.Grose, On Lepidoptera Collected by Doherty, Novitates Zoologicae,
l894
Smith, J.B., Entomological Contributions, 1882-3
Spuler, Arnold, Die Schmetterlinge Europas, Stuttgart 1900
Spuler, Arnold, Die Raupen der Schmetterlinge Europas, Stuttgart l910
Standfuss, Dr. M., Handbuch fur Sammler der Europaischen
Grossschmetterlinge, Zurich 1891,
Stichel, H., Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Brussels l906
Talbot, G., A Monograph of the Pierine Genus Delias, British Museum 1937
Tutt, J.W., Melanism and Melanochronism in British Lepidoptera, London, 1891
Von Linden, Madamoiselle la Comtesse M., Le Dessin Des Ailes Des
Lepidopteres, 1902,
Waterhouse, G.A., and Lyell, Geo., The Butterflies of Australia, Sydney,
1914.
---, papers 1900-5,
Journals
Deustche Entomologische Zeitschrift, Iris, Band XV, l902,
Entomologica America, vol 9, 1928; vol 12, 1932
The Lepidopterists' Society Comemmorative Volume 1945-1973
Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute, Number 15 : A Mongraph of
the
Ithomidae,l971
Proceedings of the Entomological Society of New York, 1865-67
Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Lepidoptera, 1848-95,
twelve vols, bound, ca
New York Entomological Society, bound volume 1893-8
Revue Russe d'Entomologie, 1901-2, 1928
Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 8 vols. 1914-1924, 12
vols.,
miscellaneous journals, Annals of Queensland Museum, Horae Societatis
Entomologicae Rossicae
(6 vols.)
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