A CATALOGUE OF INSECTS OF PENNSYLVANIA. Part First.

Hanover, York County, PA: Printed for the Author, by W. D. Lepper, 1806. Book. Very good+ condition. Hardcover. First Edition. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. vi, 60 pages of text. Half leather binding with gilt-stamped spine lettering. Minor shelfwear, and moderate sunning/fading to the spine. Marbled endpapers. Condition: small strip of discoloration where text meets the binding, and small tear to final leaf both of which appear to be the result of the removal of original wrappers . The text is exceptionally clean and is unmarked. Ex libris: institutional blind stamp on title page and bookplate on endpapers. Provenance: bookplate of Samuel W. Pennypacker (1843-1916) on front endpaper. Pennypacker served as the 23rd governor of Pennsylvania (1903-1907). He amassed a collection of over 10,000 items pertaining to Pennsylvania history. This is the first major entomological work published in the United States. It describes 1,363 species of beetles, classified according to the system of Fabricius. The Reverend F. V. Melsheimer (1749-1814) was a Lutheran clergyman and early American entomologist, called the "Father of American Entomology" by successor Thomas Say. Per Wikipedia "His insect collection, inherited and increased by his second son Frederick Ernst Melsheimer and his son's friend Daniel Ziegler, was eventually purchased by Harvard University and formed the basis for what is now the largest university-owned collection of insects in the United States. His Catalogue was intended to be a three volume work, but illness prevented publication of more than the first volume, in 1806." Measures 7 3/4" (197mm).Bibliography: Early American imprints, Second series, no. 10846. First edition. .