Bog Orchis and Butterfly Orchis, 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 211 and 217 of Volume V, published in London by Frederick Warne and Co. about 1873. They are two original sheets sold together as one lot, and the set is never split. Both sheets come from the orchid plates of Volume V and together name ten British orchids. Plate 211 names Bog Orchis, Two Leaved Liparis, Spurless Coral Root and Broad Leaved Helleborine. Plate 217 names Green Habenaria, Small White Habenaria, Lesser Butterfly Orchis, Great Butterfly Orchis, Green Man Orchis and Green Musk Orchis.

On Plate 211 the broad leaved helleborine stands at the center against a large ribbed leaf, its flowers green with pink lips, flanked by slender spikes of yellow flowers. A small green flower spike rises near the center, the spurless coral root at the lower left shows its branching, coral like root, and small bulbs with roots are drawn at the foot. Plate 217 is a crowded group of green and white flowered orchids: the butterfly orchises open pale greenish white flowers with long spurs, a narrow spike of tiny white flowers stands at the lower left, other spikes carry flowers with hanging yellow and orange lips, and two pale brown tubers are shown among the leaves at the foot.

The plates come from The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain, published in London by Frederick Warne and Co. of Bedford Street, Covent Garden, and carrying the name of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Anne Pratt, 1806 to 1893, wrote the text and drew the plants herself. The work runs to six volumes, and the title page of Volume V, from which these sheets come, records 237 species in color and names Scribner, Welford and Armstrong as the New York house. The plates were printed in color by William Dickes of London, a licensee of George Baxter's color process.

Even age toning. Handling soiling along the edges of both sheets, a soiled patch in the lower margin of Plate 217. Small nicks along the top edges and small chips at the left edges. Light scattered foxing. Slight corner wear.

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