Captain Thomas Brown - The book of butterflies, sphinges, and moths : Volume II - Published 1834 - 38 full-page colour plates (numbered 61 - 96) - (Complete) - Gilt, ornate bindings A rare, early collector's item regarding the natural history of butterflies This book is in overall very good condition - - Clean, bright contents - Firm bindings - Highly-decorative gilt decorations to spine Captain Thomas Brown (1785 – 8 October 1862) was a British naturalist and malacologist. When he was twenty, he joined the Forfar and Kincardine Militia, rising to the rank of captain in 1811. When he was quartered in Manchester, he became interested in nature, and edited Oliver Goldsmith's Animated Nature. After his regiment was disbanded he bought the Fifeshire flax mill. That, however, burned down before Brown had the opportunity to insure it. He then started to write books about nature for a living. A species of sea snail, a marine gastropod, was named after him: Zebina browniana d'Orbigny, 1842.