Rainbow Dust, Three Centuries of delight in British Butterflies

Beginning with the author’s own experience of hunting and rearing butterflies as a boy Peter Marren takes a retrospective look at the collectors of the past and why they were so obsessed with their hobby.

Rainbow Dust is a nostalgic journey through the recent past. It takes in the controversy over collecting, the contribution of women to the study of butterflies and the curious details that lead to them being feared as well as loved. It is peppered with personalities such as James Petiver, the absent minded apothecary who gave them their beautiful names.