Beetles on a Bottlebrush plant

Beetles (Coleoptera) linger over flower and foliage in Edward Donovan's 'An epitome of the natural history of the insects of New Holland, New Zealand, New Guinea, Otaheite, and other islands in the Indian, Southern, and Pacific Oceans'.

New Holland is a historical European name for mainland Australia. Otaheite is a historical European name for Tahiti. New Guinea refers to Papua New Guinea.

Edward Donovan (1768-1837) was a natural history illustrator, amateur zoologist and writer. This collection includes Insects of New Holland, created using specimens collected by Joseph Banks and William Bayly, an astronomer on the second and third voyages of James Cook, specimens in the collection of Dru Drury and other private collections as well as his own museum.

The engravings in these books were hand coloured by Donovan and a team of employees, using thick paints, burnished highlights, albumen overglazes and metallic paints.