Russian-born American author Vladimir Nabokov (1899 - 1977) is mostly known for his significant contributions to modern literature, but the wordsmith was also a distinguished lepidopterist — taking regular trips around the world to capture and study butterflies. Nabokov even wrote his best-known work, Lolita, while collecting butterflies around the United States. "My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music," he once wrote. "My pleasures are the most intense known to man: writing and butterfly hunting." In honor of what would have been his 110th birthday, this gallery documents the author's second passion, as seen through the eyes of the LIFE archives.