"...fluttered around like blue snowflakes..." ~ Pnin, by Vladimir Nabokov
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Vladimir Nabokov (b. 1899 St. Petersburg, Russia; d. 1977 Montreux, Switzerland) was not only a brilliant author but an avid lepidopterist. He took great pride in his scientific work and wrote extensively about his research. He caught his first butterfly in 1906, at the age of 7.
This ex libris is a tribute to Nabokov and his dual passions for science and literature. It features my own interpretation of one of Nabokov's illustrations of a scale-row classification system of the Karner Blue (Lycaeides melissa samuelis), the butterfly he is perhaps most famous for studying, tracking and helping to classify.
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Media: Pen & ink and gouache on a new set of an authentic library circulation card and manila pocket.
Size: the card is 3 x 5 inches; the pocket is 4.5 x 5.5 inches.
The set comes with an extra blank circulation card should you wish to include a personally inscribed card in the pocket with the ex libris card. It also comes with a 1.5" x 1.5" piece of non-toxic, acid free, transparent double-sided tape-like adhesive that can be cut into strips or squares and used to affix the pocket in a book.
The back of the circulation card will be initialed and dated by the artist.
Completed 04.24.07
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