Broom Rapes and Greater Toothwort, Antique Victorian Plate, Pratt, circa 1873

Plate 149 of Anne Pratt's British flora, an original antique color plate printed for Frederick Warne and Co. of London, gives five more British broom rapes together with the greater toothwort. Pale yellow and cream hooded flowers crowd the center of the sheet on thick scaly stems, and a slender lilac spike of Orobanche caerulea rises at the left. A pale blue gray spike stands right of center, the branched broom rape rises in soft pink at the far right, the greater toothwort carries pale yellow hooded flowers at the far left, and thick brown scaly bases are drawn at the foot.

Anne Pratt's survey of the British flora appeared in six volumes from Frederick Warne and Co. of Covent Garden, London, the five volumes of flowering plants issued first and the volume of grasses, sedges and ferns added in 1873 to complete the set. Volume IV, from which this plate comes, carries 249 species printed in color, and the title page also names the New York agents Scribner, Welford and Armstrong.

The work was one of the first thorough illustrated floras of Britain aimed at the ordinary reader rather than the specialist, and the price was only possible because the plates were printed in color instead of being colored by hand. That technical choice is part of what the sheet records, and it put a reliable colored figure of every British species within reach of a wide public for the first time.

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left, bottom right and top left corners.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.