Benjamin Wilkes

Benjamin Wilkes was a professional painter who following
an introduction to the Aurelian Society in the early 1730’s began studying
entomology. Wilkes was aided in his pursuits by Joseph Dandridge, one of the
founders of the Aurelian Society (later the Royal Entomological Society), and
given access to Dandridge’s considerable collection.

In 1742 Wilkes issued his first publication, Twelve new designs of English Butterflies depicting
butterflies arranged geometrically in groups and in 1749, the far more
ambitious The English Moths and Butterflies with
text relying upon his observations but written by fellow Aurelian, William
Baker. Wilkes portrayed the complete metamorphoses of the insects’ development
from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly or moth with the plant upon which
they grew using an unrivalled combination of artistic skill and considered
scientific observation. Upon occasion, in order that his work did not become
monotonous, he did replace the ‘host plant’ with one that was more interesting
as often the insects fed on the same types.

Wilkes died from fever in the same year as his work was
published. A second edition was issued in 1773 by Benjamin White, the first
publisher to specialise in Natural History and whose publishing firm, Horace’s
Head on Fleet Street, became an established meeting place for naturalists.

Wilkes’s great knowledge and love of his subject is
evident in his work. At the time of this publication many of the species were
little known whilst others were found in great abundance. Today, some of these
species are in decline or altogether extinct thus lending an even greater
poignancy to one of the most important works on British butterflies and moths.