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Commander
12-Jan-2010, 03:13 PM
This is something that I would like to share with the community here.

I came across this book that is probably long out of print but was digitised in 2006, courtesy of the National Library Board of Singapore. Real hardcopies of such books, if still in existence, would probably fall into the category of 'rare books' and would be collectors' items (at least for lepidopterists and entomologists)

From the details, this book was published in 1882-1886, long before the famous Corbet & Pendlebury's famous work was first published in 1954. I have that 1st Edition in hardcopy, but it's not in a good condition when I got it. I also bought the 2nd and 3rd editions of C&P when I was in London some time back. Many of you have C&P4 which is published by the Malayan Nature Society and now in its 4th edition.

For this book, Rhopalocera Malayana it is a book that was written and published by William Lucas Distant, a well-known collector during that era. If you look at his surname, his name is lent to many butterfly species and subspecies in this region, e.g. Iraota distanti distanti, Eooxylides tharis distanti and many others if you look at our checklist. You are looking at a classic that is over 125 years old today!

Even though many names have been changed and revised since then, you will recognise many of the species in the book that we still see today. In those days, Malaya had 503 species. Today the number is around 1,100+.

Irrespective of the outdated information, respect the book for what it is and the very challenging task that the author undertook to collate and publish this classic work of the Butterflies of Malaya, in those days when they didn't have computers and digital cameras. For those of us who are long-time butterfly collectors and enthusiasts, this is a rare find. (I'm sure Les, Keith, Steven Neo and others will agree)

Note that the usual copyright laws prevail. So you should know what to do as you download the 94Mb digital scan of the book, although there doesn't appear to be a restriction to downloading it.

Rhopalocera Malayana : a description of the butterflies of the Malay Peninsula - by W.L. Distant
This is a detailed description of 503 species of Malayan butterflies, arranged in 143 genera. It shows the close relationship between them and the butterflies of Borneo and to a lesser degree to those of Sumatra, Burma, North-Eastern India, Java, Sri Lanka.

All Rights Reserved. National Library Board Singapore 2006.

To download the PDF copy of the book - click here (http://sgebooks.nl.sg/details/020000219.html).

Archduke
12-Jan-2010, 04:24 PM
wow. are those pictures hand drawn?
incredible detail if it isnt a photograph.

Commander
12-Jan-2010, 05:40 PM
Yes, in those days, colour film/photos are prohibitively expensive. So many books of that era contain hand-drawn drawings - many even water coloured.

On page x of the Preface, the author wrote about his artist Mr Horace Knight who did all the drawings in this book. :)

butterfly_effect
12-Jan-2010, 06:06 PM
nice!

Peacock Royal
12-Jan-2010, 09:37 PM
Incredible work.
Thanks for the link.

Common Mime
12-Jan-2010, 10:47 PM
Thank you, Mr Khew.

The Plane
13-Jan-2010, 12:59 AM
:thumbsup: Thanks Uncle Khew ! Just downloaded it, my first butterfly book ;P

Glorious Begum
13-Jan-2010, 09:39 PM
Getting an error when click on it. Any idea ?:confused:

Wanderer
13-Jan-2010, 09:46 PM
access only from singapore? thats a possibility

Commander
13-Jan-2010, 11:42 PM
Dunno. Does Les have a problem with his snail-speed access from Samui?

butterfly_effect
14-Jan-2010, 12:13 AM
Getting an error when click on it. Any idea ?:confused:

Caveman... :P download it again and try again... sometimes pdf may download incorrectly or incomplete...then you can't open it.. :)

Commander
14-Jan-2010, 10:04 AM
Hope that those of you who have downloaded it will appreciate the work put in by one of the early collectors in this region and who has contributed much to the knowledge of butterflies, even though I'm sure WL Distant is no longer with us.


:thumbsup: Thanks Uncle Khew ! Just downloaded it, my first butterfly book ;P

Some of the information is outdated, so it should not be your only reference to the taxonomic names that we know today. You should get a copy of the 4th edition of "Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula" by Corbet & Pendlebury (what we usually call C&P4). The book is still available at Nature's Niche at Orchidville along Mandai Road. If you are interested, let me know as I have a small discount off the listed price.

Glorious Begum
14-Jan-2010, 10:07 AM
Caveman... :P download it again and try again... sometimes pdf may download incorrectly or incomplete...then you can't open it.. :)

Not even at download page yet. How ? :bsmile:

Painted Jezebel
14-Jan-2010, 11:13 AM
I can not download, either. However, even if I could, looking at the file size, it would take approx 12 hours to complete, by which time my computer would have already timed out!:mad2:

The Plane
15-Jan-2010, 12:31 AM
Some of the information is outdated, so it should not be your only reference to the taxonomic names that we know today. You should get a copy of the 4th edition of "Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula" by Corbet & Pendlebury (what we usually call C&P4). The book is still available at Nature's Niche at Orchidville along Mandai Road. If you are interested, let me know as I have a small discount off the listed price.

Yes and thanks, I would like to get one, but can only go there after back from my trip, see you.:)

Les, LC, I can cut a disc and mail to you if you want. PM me your address. Hope this guy :police: won't catch me for unauthorized distribution :bsmile:

Painted Jezebel
15-Jan-2010, 07:29 AM
Thanks CKCHNG, however, arrangements already in place.:)

butterfly_effect
15-Jan-2010, 11:23 PM
Not even at download page yet. How ? :bsmile:

so weird. Guess they dun wanna share with neighbour. Keke. Btw, hows ur neighbour? :) renovation done liao?

butterfly_effect
15-Jan-2010, 11:25 PM
oh btw i may be gg kl again. No shooting tho:) but can pass u the file lor if u still have difficulty with it

Glorious Begum
16-Jan-2010, 09:32 AM
oh btw i may be gg kl again. No shooting tho:) but can pass u the file lor if u still have difficulty with it

if it is not too much of trouble, please get a copy for me. Still have my number ? :cheers:

Glorious Begum
16-Jan-2010, 09:38 AM
Yes and thanks, I would like to get one, but can only go there after back from my trip, see you.:)

Les, LC, I can cut a disc and mail to you if you want. PM me your address. Hope this guy :police: won't catch me for unauthorized distribution :bsmile:

Thanks CKCHNG, Ellen will pass the file to me. :cheers:

Sky Blue
16-Jan-2010, 09:39 AM
Thanks for the link.

The plates seems like duplicate / scanned twice (e.g. page 507 = 689 ...)

For those having problem downloading, you can try this alternate link (http://www.sgbug.org/temp/download.htm)

butterfly_effect
16-Jan-2010, 06:32 PM
if it is not too much of trouble, please get a copy for me. Still have my number ? :cheers:

sure! No problemo:)