Deadly Nightshade, Henbane and Thorn Apple, Antique Poison Plate, circa 1873

An original antique color plate from Anne Pratt's The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain, this sheet shows five poisonous plants of the nightshade family, among them deadly nightshade and the thorn apple. A long white trumpet of Datura stramonium opens at the center of the sheet beside its spiny green seed pod. Around it are the cream flowers of henbane netted with purple veins, the violet and yellow stars and scarlet berries of bittersweet, the white flowers and black berries of common nightshade, and the dark crimson bells of Atropa belladonna at the left.

Issued in London by Frederick Warne and Co. for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain was Anne Pratt's largest work and the one that made her name. She drew the plants as well as describing them, and the six volumes were printed in color by William Dickes, whose press specialized in natural history plates. This sheet is from Volume IV.

Anne Pratt, born at Strood in Kent in 1806 and self taught as a botanist, was among the best known botanical illustrators in Victorian England. Her books were accurate enough to be used and plain enough to be read, and this flora stayed a standard household reference for decades. Her drawings outlived her by a long way: the fern plates from this very work were still being reused, reduced and unattributed, in pocket guides well into the twentieth century.

Even age toning. Handling soiling along all four edges. 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.