A glimpse into a "Flora et Entomologia": The natural history of the rarer lepidopterous insects of Georgia by J.E. Smith and J. Abbot (1797)

"The illustrations for The Natural History of the Rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia (Smith & Abbot 1797) were reproduced from drawings by artist-naturalist John Abbot, who also supplied life history data on each species. James Edward Smith edited Abbot's manuscript and provided additional information for the book. Abbot's original manuscript entries for the 24 butterfly plates are transcribed and compared with the corresponding published letterpress. The early stages and plants in Abbot's butterfly drawings are evaluated. Eighty copies of the book were located in six countries. Dated watermarks on the plates are tabulated and plate captions are compared. Two different versions of Plates 77 and 78 are figured and discussed. Abbot's notes for Plate 31 are reproduced for the first time. A memorandum about the book by J. E. Smith is transcribed. Authorship attribution and past owners of the book are reviewed. At least one early printseller sold sets of plates without letterpress. To promote nomenclatural stability, a lectotype is designated for Papilio bathyllus J. E. Smith."