3 ms·

Fabre’s Book of Insects (1921)

71 points by Petiver 7y ago

wazoox 7y ago
I don't know how's the English translation, but I've read the original version and it's really wonderful. Not only for the insects, but it provides at times fascinating glimpses of ordinary life in the 19th century: Fabre tells how as a boy in the 1830s, up until 7 he walked only barefoot and only wore year-long a ragged shirt that dropped to his knees; also don't miss his visit to the village butcher's backyard in search of necrophagous insects... [edit]: reading the article, this is an abridged version of the Entomological Memoirs. Definitely read the thicker tome, it's well worth it. Plus practically nothing in it had been invalidated scientifically (he was opposed to Evolution, but was not a bigot; he had an interesting and rich correspondence with Darwin).
- simion314 7y ago
  >Fabre tells how as a boy in the 1830s, up until 7 he walked only barefoot and only wore year-long a ragged shirt that dropped to his knees; This was still the reality for my grandfather and partially for my parents(in Romania villages), in villages most clothing were made by hand by the women of the house including planting and processing the plants for the fibers used.
  - new2628 7y ago
    My grandmother told me, as a child she and her peers only wore shoes in months "with an R", as in September to April, and walked barefoot the rest of the year. EDIT: the place was: first Romania, then Hungary, then Romania again, while never leaving her village (so you may guess the time :)
- throwaway1239Mx 7y ago
  The thicker one (in english) may be somewhat difficult to find. https://www.worldcat.org/title/works-of-jh-fabre/oclc/316395259&referer=brief_results https://www.worldcat.org/title/works-of-jh-fabre/oclc/316395... As far as I can tell, there are 3 locations (one in The British Library, St. Pancras under a slightly different entry) in Worldcat, and nothing recently (re)published or scanned, apart from various selections concerning specific insects. If someone knows otherwise, please do share!
  - throwaway1239Mx 7y ago
    The final volume in Teixeira's series (at least, that published on the US side of the pond, and available online) appears to be the Life of the Scorpion (https://archive.org/details/lifeofscorpion00fabr/ https://archive.org/details/lifeofscorpion00fabr/) which unfortunately does not have his name attached in the metadata. It is also lacking a translator's note (as he died in 1921, and published 1923, that's not entirely surprising.). The list of translations at the beginning of Life of the Scorpion, however, appears to be the best aggregation for my above question. Note that 'More Hunting Wasps' also does not appear with Teixeira's name attached in archive.org. Florence Bicknell also translated what appears to be a rather excellent series on science and natural philosophy by J.H. Fabre, which is freely available: https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Bicknell%2C+Florence+Constable%22 https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Bicknell%2..., though these lack the fine illustrations in the OP.
t0mislav 7y ago
Nice hand-drawn images inside.
elhudy 7y ago
Although not geared towards children, David Fairchild's [url = https://books.google.com/books/about/Book_of_Monsters.html?id=ji-cIimRmq4C&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.com/books/about/Book_of_Monsters.html?i...] "Book of Monsters" [/url] is another fascinating glimpse into the lives of insects from the 1920's. edit: guess I'm not hacker enough to make a working URL ;)
xipho 7y ago
Find this, and much more at the Biodiversity Heritage Library. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/71078#page/11/mode/1up https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/71078#page/11/mode/...
elliottkember 7y ago
As a child I thoroughly enjoyed reading Gerald Durrell's books about his childhood in Corfu. All a wonderful read, both for his interest in zoology and the various characters that show up. I highly recommend My Family and Other Animals as a starter. At some point his older brother gives him a copy of this Fabre book and I remembered the reference immediately.

71 points by Petiver 7y ago

I don't know how's the English translation, but I've read the original version and it's really wonderful. Not only for the insects, but it provides at times fascinating glimpses of ordinary life in the 19th century: Fabre tells how as a boy in the 1830s, up until 7 he walked only barefoot and only wore year-long a ragged shirt that dropped to his knees; also don't miss his visit to the village butcher's backyard in search of necrophagous insects... [edit]: reading the article, this is an abridged version of the Entomological Memoirs. Definitely read the thicker tome, it's well worth it. Plus practically nothing in it had been invalidated scientifically (he was opposed to Evolution, but was not a bigot; he had an interesting and rich correspondence with Darwin).

simion314 7y ago
>Fabre tells how as a boy in the 1830s, up until 7 he walked only barefoot and only wore year-long a ragged shirt that dropped to his knees; This was still the reality for my grandfather and partially for my parents(in Romania villages), in villages most clothing were made by hand by the women of the house including planting and processing the plants for the fibers used.
- new2628 7y ago
  My grandmother told me, as a child she and her peers only wore shoes in months "with an R", as in September to April, and walked barefoot the rest of the year. EDIT: the place was: first Romania, then Hungary, then Romania again, while never leaving her village (so you may guess the time :)
throwaway1239Mx 7y ago
The thicker one (in english) may be somewhat difficult to find. https://www.worldcat.org/title/works-of-jh-fabre/oclc/316395259&referer=brief_results https://www.worldcat.org/title/works-of-jh-fabre/oclc/316395... As far as I can tell, there are 3 locations (one in The British Library, St. Pancras under a slightly different entry) in Worldcat, and nothing recently (re)published or scanned, apart from various selections concerning specific insects. If someone knows otherwise, please do share!
- throwaway1239Mx 7y ago
  The final volume in Teixeira's series (at least, that published on the US side of the pond, and available online) appears to be the Life of the Scorpion (https://archive.org/details/lifeofscorpion00fabr/ https://archive.org/details/lifeofscorpion00fabr/) which unfortunately does not have his name attached in the metadata. It is also lacking a translator's note (as he died in 1921, and published 1923, that's not entirely surprising.). The list of translations at the beginning of Life of the Scorpion, however, appears to be the best aggregation for my above question. Note that 'More Hunting Wasps' also does not appear with Teixeira's name attached in archive.org. Florence Bicknell also translated what appears to be a rather excellent series on science and natural philosophy by J.H. Fabre, which is freely available: https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Bicknell%2C+Florence+Constable%22 https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Bicknell%2..., though these lack the fine illustrations in the OP.

t0mislav 7y ago

Nice hand-drawn images inside.

elhudy 7y ago

Although not geared towards children, David Fairchild's [url = https://books.google.com/books/about/Book_of_Monsters.html?id=ji-cIimRmq4C&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.com/books/about/Book_of_Monsters.html?i...] "Book of Monsters" [/url] is another fascinating glimpse into the lives of insects from the 1920's. edit: guess I'm not hacker enough to make a working URL ;)

xipho 7y ago

Find this, and much more at the Biodiversity Heritage Library. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/71078#page/11/mode/1up https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/71078#page/11/mode/...

elliottkember 7y ago

As a child I thoroughly enjoyed reading Gerald Durrell's books about his childhood in Corfu. All a wonderful read, both for his interest in zoology and the various characters that show up. I highly recommend My Family and Other Animals as a starter. At some point his older brother gives him a copy of this Fabre book and I remembered the reference immediately.