Joseph Philippe de Clairville

Who was Joseph Philippe de Clairville?

Joseph Philippe de Clairville was a notable French botanist and entomologist, who was mainly active in Switzerland. De Clairville’s collection of Coleoptera, his chief interest, is in the Natural History Museum in Basel. He was also interested in Diptera and Odonata.

After his stay in Nyon and Bex in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, he moved to Winterthur in 1782, where he lived the most time until his death in 1830.

De Clairville wrote Helvetische Entomologie published in Zurich in 1798 and translated Naturgeschichte der Hof- und Stubenvögel by Johann Matthäus Bechstein into French under the titles Manuel de l'amateur des oiseaux de volière.