ENTOMOLOGY IN SPORT and Entomology In Earnest

Entomology In Sport by the Honorable Mrs W. and Lady M., Two Lovers of the Science, to which is added, Entomology In Earnest. London: Paul Jerrard & Son [1859]. With a hand-coloured lithographed title, frontispiece and dedication, also 35 hand-coloured whimsical vignettes followed by a more serious unillustrated section in dialogue format explaining the lives and habits of insects to Victorian children.

The binding method employs the earliest form of non-adhesive (perfect) binding, invented in 1836 by William Hancock, whereby spines were coated with flexible rubber solution (gutta-percha), after cutting off the folds, which set and held the loose pages in place. As the quality of paper is somewhat thick, it is not unusual for these pages to loosen. It can be easily remedied and re-attached if desired.

"The following pages are intended, not so much for the scientific, as for the young or the comparatively uninstructed reader. The Authors have therefore aimed at making them entertaining rather than complete or systematic; am agreeable bait, in short, by means of which unwary youth may find themselves caught in the meshes of science while seeking only for amusement. They trust, however, that the accounts which the insects are supposed to give of themselves ... will be found to be accurate and confirmed by good authorities."