Among the gems that drew the rapt attention of young Nabokov while plumbing the riches of the dusty attic of his family’s country home near St. Petersburg was Icones Historique Des Lépidoptères Nouveaux Ou Peu Connus, a 1832 work by the doyen of 19th century French lepidoptery, Jean Alphonse Boisduval (1799-1899). Between the covers of this 2-volume work, it’s easy to find the attraction it would hold for an aspiring butterfly scientist. Accounting for hundreds of butterfly and moth species found in various parts of Europe, it includes detailed descriptions of each species’ key characteristics, lists alternative species names given by other naturalists (aka synonyms), and features beautiful work by several notable French life science artists and engravers of the time–P. Duménil, Émile Theophile Blanchard (student of the famed van Spaendonck brothers), and Borromée among them. Extensive, gorgeously illustrated, exquisitely detailed and informative, Icones Historiques would have been a prized coffee table book for any well-endowed European household in an era marked by hungry fascination for natural history.

Remarkable as it is, Icones Historiques was by no means Boisduvall’s only, or even most scientifically important work. Formally trained in both medicine and natural science Jean Alphonse devoted his life to wide-ranging interests in botany and entomology alongside his medical career. An avid collector himself, his impact on the European and North American study of lepidoptera was lasting. Drawing from the study of European moths–many of which he himself gathered over the course of far flung treks through the French Alps–one of Boisduval’s earliest publications, Essai sur une monographie des zygénides, suivi du tableau méthodique, des lépidoptères d'Europe (1829), presented a methodical approach to making sense of the world’s bewildering assortments of insect species through detailed observation and careful consideration of the still emergent classificatory frameworks of early modern zoology, a contribution that both reflected and advanced 19th century scientific thought and earned Boisduval notice and high praise from none other than modern entomology's founding scientist Pierre André Latreille. This spare (150 pages total!) but important work reflected a commitment to taxonomic rigor that would shape Boisduval's entire research record.

Boisduval’s extensive inventories of butterfly life, including Histoire Naturelle Des Insectes: Spécies Général Des Lépidoptères (1832-1841), Histoire Générale De Iconographie Des Lépidoptères Et Des Chenilles De l'Amerique Septentrionale (1829-1842), and Lépidoptères De La Californie (1852)–all compiled and published in collaboration with a diverse cast of fellow collectors and talented artists from both Europe and North America–laid important groundwork for subsequent generations of butterfly scientists and insect taxonomists. Notably, numerous identifications that were first presented in these works for both European and North American species hold their validity and make consequential contributions for butterfly science today. To name one example, Boisduval was the first to identify, for Western science, the Xerces Blue (Glaucopsyche xerces) butterfly, native to the coastal sand dunes of the San Franciscio peninsula, a species since recognized as the first butterly to have become extinct due to habitat loss. (See the "Investigating Taxonomy" section of the From Nabokov's Net exhibit for more information on the role professor Corrie Moreau, Director of the Cornell University Insect Collection, played in this determination.)

Prolific in his publications, Boisduval was also known for his collegial style. Offering warm welcome to fellow observers of the natural world, including the American lepidopterists who made their way to his door on their European travels, he was generous in sharing access to his valuable butterfly collections, which he eventually passed along to his colleagues. A founding member of the world’s first entomological society, Société Entomologique de France, he served three terms as the group’s president in 1838, 1853, and 1858. To this day the SEF website praises him for the work ethic, tireless motivation,and research productivity that were the hallmarks of his long career.