Butterflies of The World: Over 5,000 Butterflies in Full Color Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book is good as a collectors' item but no more.
"Butterflies of the world" contains 7000 colour photographs of butterflies from all over the world. Most genera known to science back in 1973, when the book was published, are included. The butterflies are illustrated in pinned position and placed in long rows, almost like a museum collection. In fact, they *are* from a museum collection, that of the British Museum to be exact.
Despite its claim to be an "international field guide", this book looks more like an exhibition catalogue! The species presentations are ridiculously short, often only consisting of the Latin name of the butterfly and its approximate range. (If you can call "south China" approximate.) Still, the photos are beautiful. There are 208 colour plates in the book.
"Butterflies of the World" isn't a book you can actually read, let alone use as a field guide. It's a coffee table book pure and simple, or a nice addition to your collection of rare books.
In that sense it deserves five stars.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Butterflies of The World: Over 5,000 Butterflies in Full Color

Butterflies of the World depicts full-color illustrations of over 5,000 butterflies. These photographs are taken from the world-renowned entomological collection in the British Museum's Natural History Dept in London. The illustrations are amplified by a textual section which gives generic & specific names, locations, & other brief descriptive information. Includes butterflies from Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Indo-Australasia, & asia. Virtually all groups of species are represented, & some 90 percent of all but the most elusive species can be identified from the plates, text & index.

Click here for more information about Butterflies of The World: Over 5,000 Butterflies in Full Color