Content & Text: Eveline Ferretti, Paul Jensen, Jenny Leijonhufvud

Exhibit Design: Jenny Leijonhufvud

Editions of all the butterfly books that Nabokov spotlighted in The New Yorker can be found in the special collections of Mann Library. They are part of a collection of books, journals and other resources in the study of insects that has been vigorously curated over the past 150+ years to advance research in general and applied entomology, parasitology, medical entomology, ecology, and zoological nomenclature. Members of Cornell's entomology faculty have been strong partners in the collection's development, perhaps none more so than Professor John Henry Comstock (1849-1931) and his professional partner Anna Botsford Comstock (1854-1930), who both played pivotal roles in laying the foundation for one of the world's best entomology libraries as also for Cornell University's enduring global lead in the study of insect biology and the life sciences.

Another key figure was lepidopterist John George Franclemont (1912-2004), who taught entomology at Cornell from 1953 to 1977. Franclemont was still a Cornell graduate student earning a doctorate in entomology when Vladimir Nabokov began teaching at the University in the fall of 1948. Even before Nabokov's arrival, the two had enjoyed a friendly professional correspondence, and their collegial interactions continued during Nabokov's time here. In the course of his long career in entomology, Franclemont developed an extraordinary personal library of both specimens and books, many rare and valuable volumes among them. Might conversations that Franclemont and Nabokov enjoyed with each other during their encounters in Ithaca have provided inspiration for some of the rare book acquisitions Franclemont would make (and eventually donate to the Library) over his lifetime? We may never know for sure, and yet, it's easy to imagine a connection.

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Baldwin, Stanley P. Vladimir Nabokov: His Life and Works. Library of Great Authors. New York, N.Y.: SparkNotes, 2003.

Ball, George E. The Art of Insect Illustration and Threads of Entomological History: [Exhibition] December 2004 to March 2005, Bruce Peel Special Collections Library. Edmonton: University of Alberta Libraries, 2005.

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Nabokov, Vladimir. “Butterflies: The Childhood of a Lepidopterist.” The New Yorker, September 4, 2023.

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