A hand-drawn autographed drawing by writer Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov is an outstanding writer, poet, translator and literary critic who has left a significant mark on world culture. He was born in 1899 in St. Petersburg into an aristocratic family. After the revolution, he emigrated, living in Germany, France, and then in the USA and Switzerland. He is best known for his works such as Lolita, The Protection of Luzhin, The Gift, and Ada, characterized by their refined style, complex structure, and wordplay. In addition to his literary work, Nabokov was a passionate entomologist who devoted years to the study of butterflies and made contributions to lepidopterology.

Papilio bolina (Ambyna), the butterfly in the picture, is one of the most common butterflies in South and Southeast Asia, known for its variability and mimicry ability. Nabokov, studying this species, paid attention not only to the coloring of the wings, but also to the adaptive features that helped the butterflies survive in the wild.

In his entomological career, he described several new species of butterflies, but he never took it as a hobby – he considered himself a real scientist and even noted that if it were not for literature, he could devote his life exclusively to the study of insects.