James Francis Stephens - Disputes

Disputes

Stephens reported that James Rennie (1787–1867) pirated his illustrations in his 1832 Conspectus of the Butterflies and Moths Found in Britain and went to court. He however lost and most of his earnings from his book were lost to legal fees. Stephen’s Illustrations of British Entomology, often entitled simply British Entomology was in immediate competition with John Curtis’ British Entomology (1824–1839). This gave rise to an acrimonious dispute which split the British entomological establishment into opposing factions for over thirty years. They were never reconciled despite Stephen’s close friend John Obadiah Westwood’s attempt to heal the rift.