Caspar Stoll was born in Hessen-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel), probably between 1725 and 1730. Being either a clerk or a porter at the Admiralty of Amsterdam, he published several works on entomology. Stoll's publications of stick insects, mantids and their relatives are particularly well known.
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In 1791 Stoll wrote he spent fifteen years on Natuurlyke, his book on mantids. On the title page Stoll mentioned he was a member of the Scientific Society in Halle, but could not be confirmed. The introduction stated "All the drawings will be made from nature, based upon specimens found in the cabinets of our provinces". Besides he writes: "One should not expect learned and anatomical Descriptions which is above my reach, and using rented pencils many times causes rented thoughts, and as well as theft of characters".[1] Stoll mentioned that all the butterflies and insects were collected in the Dutch colonies, like Surinam, Ceylon, Java, Ambon and Sierra Leone. The work was completed "without losing sight of the all-powerful hand of the Creator". In the 18th century this was a sort of automatism, to safeguard a book from being banned or burned.[2]
Caspar Stoll and his brother Georg Daniel both lived in the Hague. It looks like Caspar worked in 1746 for a notary, several times he put his signature as a witness. His first wife was Maria Sardijn, her brother was a tax collector and a notary. On January, 18th, 1761 they married in a church Scheveningen. Then they had four children baptized in The Hague.[3] The godfather of the two boys was twice William V of Orange-Nassau and once baron Rengers.[4] Before 1769 Stoll moved to Amsterdam, and in 1772 two children died within a few months. The couple lived on Haarlemmerdijk near Prinsengracht in a house he bought in 1778, and close to Jan Christiaan Sepp, who published some of his works.
His second wife was Anna Elisabeth Kaal, originally from Hamburg, her brothers lived in the area nearby. They married with a settlement on October 21, 1791, after having a baby, born a few months before. Stoll was working hard to finish his handwritten copies, now belonging to the Artis Library. On December 22, 1791 Stoll had made up his will.[5] Before the end of the year he died. On the January 2, 1792 Stoll was buried in Noorderkerk in the morning. Precisely a year after his death his widow, a member of the Lutheran church, married "surprisingly" A.R. van Weylik, a burgomaster of Edam. She must have had something special: it could be her beauty, but also a collection.
De Uitlandsche Kapellen is a key work in the history of entomology. Accurately illustrated with hand-coloured engravings this was the first book on exotic Lepidoptera to use the new system by Carl Linnaeus for naming and classifying animals. Over 1,658 butterfly species are described many named and illustrated first time. Gerrit Wartenaar is identified as the painter. The original paintings are in the Natural History Museum, London.