NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 26 number 1 - Fall 2005

Special Collections Acquires Elusive Butterfly Portfolio

By Lois Fischer Black, Special Collections Research Center

Thanks to contributions from a number of private donors to a special fund, the NCSU Libraries purchased a copy of E. A. Seguy’s Papillons for its Special Collections Research Center in spring 2005. The combined fund-raising efforts underscore the good work that can be accomplished through the generosity of library supporters.

Papillons, published during the 1920s in Paris, France, contains twenty pochoir plates. Sixteen plates are of butterfly images and four are of stylized textile patterns. Pochoir is an elaborate process by which rich color is applied layer by layer with the aid of stencils, resulting in intense hues similar to those in stained glass windows. These designs have inspired artists and designers in textiles, wallpapers, and other media. In all, there are eighty-one technical drawings in Papillons that feature these winged creatures, followed by sixteen ornamental compositions.

Papillons is a companion piece to Seguy’s Insectes, a similarly structured portfolio of plates published during the same period. The Special Collections Research Center acquired a copy of Insectes several years ago, thanks to the generosity of NC State’s Department of Entomology, the North Carolina Entomological Society, and the combined efforts of faculty, staff, and students.

Copies of Seguy’s works are quite scarce. The NCSU Libraries’ copy of Papillons was located by a bookseller in a house in Paris. It apparently had not circulated through either public or private hands and remains fresh in its portfolio secured with cotton ties. The newly acquired Papillons will be sent to a conservation center in fall 2005, where a team of experienced conservators will construct protective enclosures to ensure that the plates can withstand handling while maintaining their pristine condition.

Confusion often results when researching the artist E. A. Seguy, as two authors known as E. A. Seguy lived in Paris during the same period. E. A. Seguy was a designer who worked in the textile field, while Eugene A. Seguy (1890–1985) was a renowned entomologist employed as a professor at the National Museum in Paris.

Those who would like to make arrangements to view Papillons after the conservation work is completed should call the Special Collections Research Center at (919) 515-2273 or send an electronic-mail message to special_collections@ncsu.edu. To contribute to one of the endowments supporting the purchase of historic books and manuscripts for the NCSU Libraries’ collections, please call Jim Mulvey at (919) 513-3339.