Motherwort and Hemp Nettle, Antique Herbal Plate by Anne Pratt, circa 1873

An original antique botanical plate of the British flora, printed in color in London for Frederick Warne and Co., this sheet is given over to the black horehound and motherwort with four British hemp nettles. The large flowered hemp nettle opens at the top right of the sheet in pale yellow with a deep violet blotch on the lip, the boldest thing on the page. Rose pink whorls of black horehound and the common hemp nettle climb the left hand stems, the pale pink whorls of motherwort sit at the right, bristly stalks and deeply cut leaves fill the middle ground, and the pale yellow downy hemp nettle fills the lower right.

The plate comes from The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain, and their allies the Club Mosses, Pepperworts and Horsetails, written and drawn by Anne Pratt and published in London by Frederick Warne and Co. of Bedford Street, Covent Garden. The work runs to six volumes and was issued under the direction of the Committee of General Literature and Education appointed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. This sheet belongs to Volume IV, whose title page records 249 species printed in color.

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 the right and top edges. Slight wear at the bottom right, top left and top right corners. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the left.

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