Margaret Elizabeth Fountaine, a Victorian lepidopterist and diarist, was an accomplished natural history illustrator. She had a great love and knowledge of butterflies, travelling and collecting extensively through Europe, South Africa, India, Tibet, America, Australia and the West Indies, publishing numerous papers on her work. She raised many of the butterflies from eggs or caterpillars, producing specimens of great quality, 22,000 of which are housed at the Norwich Castle Museum and known as the Fountaine-Neimy Collection. Her four sketch books of butterfly life-cycles are held at the Natural History Museum in London.
I admit I haven't read the first part (since it was this one I came across at a used book-sale), but there is a long introduction, that tells what happened in the first volume so you are well prepared for the continued diaries - not diaries in the usual sense, Miss Fountaine wrote a yearly summary (on April 15th).
Some passages are quite interesting, others more boring - and I would have loved to see some illustrations. There are several references to photos which existed with the diary and it would have been great if at least some of them had been included too (maybe there are in other editions, but not in my hard-back copy - just one just at the beginning which I'm guessing is of Miss Fountaine and Charles, though there is no text that says whether it is or not). These diary fragments can only tell so much...
The second book in the life and loves of Miss Margaret Fontain. A wonderful insite into the life of a very independent Victorian lepidopterist, not a typical Victorian spinster
So lovely to have finally read the follow up to Love Among the Butterflies. Margaret was such an endearing and characterful journal writer, and inspiring traveller