Daffodil, Narcissus and Snowdrop, Antique Spring Flower Plate, circa 1873

This is an original antique botanical plate of the daffodil, two narcissi, the snowdrop and the summer snowflake, Plate 220 from Volume V of Anne Pratt's The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain, printed in color for Frederick Warne and Co. of London, circa 1873. The caption names the Common Daffodil, The Poets Narcissus, Pale Narcissus, Snowdrop and Summer Snow Flake.

The common daffodil is drawn at the left in profile, a deep yellow trumpet with paler outer petals, and the pale narcissus at the top shows two soft yellow flowers, one full face and one turned away. At the center the poet's narcissus opens wide, white with a small yellow cup rimmed in pinkish red. Two snowdrops hang at the right with green marks on their inner petals, the summer snowflake hangs its white bells at the left, and two brown bulbs with their roots are set at the lower left and lower right. Long, narrow leaves and brown papery sheaths fill the spaces between the stems.

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 this sheet comes, records 237 species in color and names Scribner, Welford and Armstrong as the New York house. The plates of the work were printed in color by William Dickes of London, a licensee of George Baxter's color process.

Even age toning. Foxing spots scattered across the sheet, mostly in the margins and around the caption, with a few in the image. Handling soiling along the edges. Small nicks along the lower edge. Slight corner wear.

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