Pieter Cramer

Pieter Cramer (baptized on May 21, 1721, Amsterdam - died in Amsterdam on September 28, 1776) was a wealthy Dutch merchant in linen and Spanish wool, and an entomologist. Cramer was the director of the Zealand Society, a scientific society located in Flushing and a member of "Concordia et Libertate", based in Amsterdam. This literary and patriotic society, where Cramer gave lectures on minerals, commissioned and/or financed the publishing of his book on outlandish (exotic) butterflies, ocurring in three parts of the world Asia, Africa and America: "De uitlandsche Kapellen". [Chainey, J.E. (2005) The species of Papilionidae and Pieridae (Lepidoptera) described by Cramer and Stoll and their putative type material in the Natural History Museum in London. In: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 145, p. 283–337.]

Cramer assembled an extensive natural history collection that included seashells, petrifications, and insects of all orders. Many were colourful butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), collected in countries where the Dutch had colonial or trading links, such as Surinam, Ceylon, Sierra Leone and the Dutch East Indies. Such was the quality of the illustrations that Caspar Stoll encouraged him to publish the set of drawings.

Cramer decided to get a permanent record of his collection and so engaged the painter Gerrit Wartenaar to draw his specimens. He also arranged for Wartenaar to draw butterflies and moths belonging to other keen Lepidoptera collectors in the Netherlands. One of them was stadtholder prince William V of Orange. Hans Willem Baron Rengers and Joan Raye, the son of the former governor in Surinam, were among the others. [Hans Willem (baron) RENGERS VAN AYLA was born 1722 in 's-Gravenhage (Z.H.), NL. He died 14 Jan 1786 in 's-Gravenhage (Z.H.), NL. Hans married Anna Henrietta Helena Wilhelmina DE BEAUFORT on Jan 1752. Hans was employed as luitenant generaal der cavalerie; kamerheer van H.K.H. de Prinses van Oranje; president van de Cent-Suisses.]

Cramer, a bachelor, lived on Oudezijds Voorburgwal 131 close to the Oude Kerk. [Smit, P & A.P.M. Sanders & J.P.F. van der Veen (1986) Hendrik Engel's Alphabetical List of Dutch Zoological Canbinets and Menageries, p. 64-65.] In 1760 he had bought the house, then known as "the three kings". On September 5, 1774 he made his will with a stipulation thay the drawings should be avaibable to the publisher. [Eeghen, I. van (1981) De burgerwijkkaarten van Amsterdam. In: Maandblad Amstelodamum, p. 77-78.] So all the drawings went to his nephew Anthony van Rensselaer, under the condition to have these drawings printed by the bookseller Johannes Baalde. As a result, De "Uitlandsche Kapellen", 1775-1782 was published. It consisted of 33 parts, each one issued after three months to the subscribers, in four volumes with all of the drawings accompanied by descriptions of the insects.

Cramer died of "high fevers" in 1776 after eight issues (Vol. I) had been published, leaving responsibility for finishing the project to Van Rensselaar and Stoll. Stoll is supposed to be the author of the text from page 29 of the fourth volume onwards. [Roepke, W. Enkele aantekeningen over het werk van Pieter Cramer en over zijn persoon. In: Entomologisch Berichten, Deel 16, 1.II.1956, p. 25.]

"De Uitlandsche Kapellen" is a key work in the history of entomology. Beautifully illustrated with fine, life-size and hand-coloured engravings of Lepidoptera from Asia, Africa and America, and was the first book on and exotic Lepidoptera, to use the then new system developed by Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) for naming and classifying animals. Over 1658 butterfly species were described and illustrated on 396 (or 400) plates, Cramer and Stoll naming and illustrating many new species for the first time. [Jong, R. de (2005) "Metamorpha sulpitia" (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) en de lotgevallen van oude collecties. In: Entomologische Berichten 65(4), p. 127.] Cramer's collections were broken up after his death and sold, auctioned and donated to institutions and individuals. The Dutch "Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum" came to own a substantial part of his specimens and bought part of Cramer's collection from Joan Raye, heer van Breukelerwaert.

Works

"De uitlandsche Kapellen voorkomende in de drie Waereld-Deelen Asia, Africa en America - Papillons exotiques des trois parties du monde l'Asie, l'Afrique et l'Amerique" (1775-1782).

References