“The drawings of  butterflies done by Vladimir Nabokov were intended    for “family use.” He made  these on title pages of various editions of    his works as a gift to his wife and  son and sometimes to other    relatives. In Brian Boyd’s words, “in these highly  personal and    affectionately playful drawings the scientific accuracy Nabokov  needed    in thousands of illustrations of the specimens he studied under the     microscope was no longer relevant, and his imagination could take    flight. In  the butterflies Nabokov devised and labeled for Vera he    mingles fact and fancy  even more sportively than in his fiction. 
None of these  drawings portray real  butterflies, both the images   and the names he assigns to  them are his  invention. The names often   have some connection to the book that  the  butterflies adorn and, in   most cases,   play on words in English and  Russian is used: “Paradisia   radugaleta”,  “Verinia verae”, to name  just a few.”

“The drawings of butterflies done by Vladimir Nabokov were intended for “family use.” He made these on title pages of various editions of his works as a gift to his wife and son and sometimes to other relatives. In Brian Boyd’s words, “in these highly personal and affectionately playful drawings the scientific accuracy Nabokov needed in thousands of illustrations of the specimens he studied under the microscope was no longer relevant, and his imagination could take flight. In the butterflies Nabokov devised and labeled for Vera he mingles fact and fancy even more sportively than in his fiction. 

None of these drawings portray real butterflies, both the images and the names he assigns to them are his invention. The names often have some connection to the book that the butterflies adorn and, in most cases,  play on words in English and Russian is used: “Paradisia radugaleta”, “Verinia verae”, to name just a few.”

(Source: printed-ink, via cocktailcapote)

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