Bog Asphodel and Flowering Rush, Set of 2 Antique Botanical Plates, circa 1873

This is a set of two original antique botanical plates from Anne Pratt's The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain, Plates 232 and 235 of Volume V, Frederick Warne and Co., circa 1873, with the bog asphodel, flowering rush, wood rushes, cuckoo pint, sweet sedge and two pondweeds. They are two original sheets sold together as one lot. Plate 232 names Great Hairy Wood Rush, Broad Leaved Hairy Wood Rush, Narrow Leaved Hairy Wood Rush, Field Wood Rush, Curved Mountain Wood Rush, Spiked Mountain Wood Rush, Lancashire Bog Asphodel and Common Flowering Rush. The pink flowers of the Common Flowering Rush crown the top of that sheet, the yellow star flowers of the Lancashire Bog Asphodel stand at the left, and the wood rushes spread below with brownish and reddish flower heads, grassy leaves and fine roots. Plate 235 names Cuckoo Pint, Sweet Sedge, Opposite Leaved Pondweed and Fennel Leaved Pondweed. The Cuckoo Pint stands at its center as a pale green spathe around a dark brown spadix, with spotted leaves behind; the tall striped leaf and green flower spike of the Sweet Sedge are at the right, the Opposite Leaved Pondweed with brownish green leaves at the left, and the thread like leaves of the Fennel Leaved Pondweed cross the top.

The plates come from The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain by Anne Pratt (1806 to 1893), who wrote the text and drew the plants herself. The work was published in six volumes in London by Frederick Warne and Co. of Bedford Street, Covent Garden, for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, with Scribner, Welford and Armstrong as the New York house. These sheets come from Volume V, whose title page records 237 species in color. The color is printed, not applied by hand: the plates were printed in color by William Dickes of London, a licensee of George Baxter's color process. Each sheet carries its plate number at the upper right and a numbered key below the image giving the English and Latin name of every plant shown.

Even age toning throughout. Handling soiling along the edges of both sheets. Slight wear at the corners of both sheets. Small nicks along the bottom edges of both sheets.

These are original antique plates, not modern reproductions. This item is sold unframed.