Insects.- Moffet (Thomas) Insectorum sive minimorum animalium theatrum, first edition, woodcuts, contemporary calf, Thomas Cotes...[and] William Hope, 1634.

Insects.- Moffet (Thomas) Insectorum sive minimorum animalium theatrum, first edition, title with superb woodcut of a skep bee-hive surrounded by other insects, woodcut of skep repeated at end of preliminaries, numerous woodcut illustrations in text, light browning, a few rust-spots, engraved Hopetoun bookplate, contemporary calf, rather rubbed and scuffed, joints split at foot, [British Bee Books 25; Nissen ZBI 2852; STC 17993a], folio, Thomas Cotes...[and] William Hope, 1634.

⁂ An excellent copy of the first book on insects published in England, and in a contemporary binding. Moffet was educated at Cambridge and Basel, where he obtained a degree in medicine, travelled widely in Europe before establishing a practice in Ipswich and London and serving as physician to Queen Elizabeth's forces in Normandy in 1591. The first edition has three variant imprints.

It used to be said that the author's daughter, Patience, who was raised surrounded by insects and spiders, was the origin of Miss Muffet in the nursery rhyme, but this is now regarded as unlikely.