Update: a much expanded 2001 edition of the Guide is now available. See Dieter E. Zimmer's home page (www.d-e-zimmer.de) for more information.

This guide was originally published in 1993 by the Musée cantonal de Zoologie and the Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire in Lausanne, Switzerland, as part of volume 1 of their series Litterae Zoologicae, which served as the catalogue accompanying an exhibition of "Les papillons de Nabokov" (Nabokov’s butterflies) shown from November 26, 1993 to January 29, 1994 in the lobby of the Lausanne cantonal library. In addition to a variety of notes on Nabokov as a lepidopterist and the present guide, the volume contained a comprehensive list, by Dr. Michel Sartori, of the 4300 butterfly specimens (of 195 species) Nabokov had collected between 1961 and 1975 in Switzerland, Italy and France and bequeathed to the museum. The section containing the original version of this guide was entitled Nabokov’s Lepidoptera: An Annotated Multilingual Checklist.

The revised and expanded edition (March/June/October/December 1996) of "Nabokov’s Lepidoptera" from which the following excerpts are drawn was reproduced and distributed privately by the author in a limited number of copies. It contains a great number of addenda and corrigenda on all levels which have increased the size by about two thirds. Thanks to Kurt Johnson’s and Zsolt Bálint’s ongoing revision of Neotropical polyommatines, the present scientific state of Nabokov’s genera can be reported.

The paper edition consists of an Introduction, Nabokov on Butterflies (a collection of quotations), and five sections: 1, Families of Lepidoptera; 2, Butterflies and Moths Bearing Nabokov's Name; 3, Lepidoptera in Nabokov's Published English Writings; 4, Scientists Mentioned by Nabokov; and 5, Nabokov's Non-Fictional Writings on Lepidoptera. The sections electronically republished here include:

Introduction (excerpt)

2. Butterflies and Moths Bearing Nabokov's Name

Butterflies named by Nabokov
Butterflies named for Nabokov
Butterflies with "Nabokovian" names
Common names

5. Nabokov's writings on butterflies, listed and summarized