Butterfly Books
(to buy online)

Here are some butterfly and moth books I recommend and which may be bought online. I get a small commission for any Amazon books bought via this site but you do not pay more for this! Some of the links below connect you to other bookstores. CLICK ON THE PICTURE OF THE BOOK TO BUY IT (but note - the links to American books take you to Amazon US).

Important New Publication - Moths of Europe Vol. 1 (of 3)

Available in French and English versions.

1000 species covered in Vol. 1.

 

 

"N.A.P Editions presents to you the work of editing and illustration on the Moths of Europe realised by Patrice Leraut. Recognised as an uncontested specialist on moths of Europe, Patrice Leraut works at the Natural History Museum of Paris and is the author of many books on Lepidoptera. This is the first of 3 volumes"

 

COLLINS FIELD GUIDE TO THE BUTTERFLIES
OF BRITAIN AND EUROPE (Tom Tolman)

       

This is the standard and best book for identifying European butterflies. The successor to Higgins and Riley, it belongs on every bookshelf next to the Bible, the Complete Works of Shakespeare and Russell's History of Western Philosophy.
BUTTERFLIES OF EUROPE (Tristan Lafranchis)

This is a completely new field guide and identification key (published in 2004) containing copious photographs, paintings and diagrams and a text specifically designed to enable identification of any living butterfly. So far as I know, it is the only field guide with a dichotomous key to every species and should really help with difficult identifications. I only bought my copy in January 2005 but suspect I shall carry it together with Tolman on all my future trips.

MITCHELL BEAZLEY GUIDE TO THE
BUTTERFLIES OF EUROPE

Much smaller and not quite so comprehensive in range and the forms illustrated, this is an excellent book to carry in the back pocket. For 99% of amateur butterfly watchers it is quite adequate and because of its portability it is an excellent second book to have.
MICHAEL CHINERY'S PHOTOGRAPHIC GUIDE
TO THE BUTTERFLIES OF EUROPE

       

I only have a French copy of this book but the photographs and layout are obviously the same. The photographs of all the European species are fantastic and a superb complement to the traditional field guides. The French text is also very useful - I presume it is largely a straight translation of the English.
PHOTOGRAPHIC GUIDE TO THE BUTTERFLIES OF
BRITAIN AND EUROPE (Tom Tolman)

This book is comprehensive and an excellent companion to the Collins Field Guide (above, also by Tolman). Like the Chinery photo-guide, it illustrates some species superbly and others less well (indeed, some species are described but have no illustration, for no obvious reason). This book has the illustrations, text and map for each species on the same page, making it easier to browse than Chinery's book.

LES PAPILLONS DE JOUR de France, Belgique
et Luxembourg et leurs chenilles (Tristan Lafranchis)

An excellent, comprehensive, photographic guide to the butterflies of France and neighbouring francophone countries (omitting Switzerland), containing a substantial and informative introduction and an identification key. The main text is in French but the key is in English.
MILLENNIUM ATLAS OF THE
BUTTERFLIES IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND

This book is beautifully illustrated with photographs of every species as well as being a detailed atlas of British butterflies. The sections on ecology and conservation are excellent.
THE BUTTERFLIES OF NORTH AMERICA :
A NATURAL HISTORY AND FIELD GUIDE (SCOTT)

I don't have this book but it is very highly recommended in reviews.
THE NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY FIELD GUIDE TO
NORTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLIES

I have a copy of this comprehensive photographic guide and thoroughly enoy browsing it. It is very similar in style to the Chinery book (above) but with the annoying quirk of prefering English names to scientific names in the plates, so when I want to check the relationship of an illustrated species to its European cousins I have to flick back and forth through the book.

Not butterfly books, but random things people have asked me to get or that I like...

The Mind's I
 Collins Bird Guide
The Four Gospels (Collins Educational)