Pieter Cramer
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Pieter Cramer (May 21, 1721 - September 26, 1776 or 1779) was a wealthy Dutch wool merchant and entomologist. He lived in Amsterdam.
Cramer assembled an extensive natural history collection that included insects of all orders. Many were colourful butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), collected in countries where the Dutch had colonial or trading links such as Surinam in South America. Cramer wanted a permanent record of his collection and so engaged the artist Gerrit Wartenaar Lambertz (fl. 1775) to draw his specimens. He also arranged for Lambertz to draw butterflies and moths belonging to other keen Lepidoptera collectors in the Netherlands.
Such was the quality of the illustrations that Caspar Stoll encouraged him to publish the set of drawings. As a result, De Uitlandsche Kapellen, [1775-] 1779-1782 was published. It consisted of 34 issues in four volumes with all of the drawings accompanied by descriptions of the insects. Cramer died before the publication was completed and so Stoll took over responsibility for the project, producing a supplement.
De Uitlandsche Kapellen is a key work in the history of entomology. Beautifully illustrated with fine hand-coloured engravings this was the first book on exotic Lepidoptera to use the then new system developed by Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) for naming and classifying animals. Over 1,650 butterfly species were described, Cramer and Stoll naming and illustrating many new species for the first time.
[edit] Works
1775-1782. De uitlandische Kapellen voorkomende in de drie Waereld-Deelen Asia, Africa en America - Papillons exotiques des trois parties du monde l'Asie, l'Afrique et l'Amerique.
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