Nettle, Hop and Elm, 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 194 and 195 of Volume V, published in London by Frederick Warne and Co. about 1873. They are two original sheets sold together as one lot. Plate 194 names Common Hornwort, Unarmed Hornwort, Roman Nettle, Small Nettle and Great Nettle. Plate 195 names Pellitory of the Wall, Hop, Common Elm and Broad Leaved Elm.

On Plate 194 the great nettle rises through the center of the sheet with toothed leaves and hanging clusters of small green flowers, and the Roman nettle stands at the left on a bristly pink stem with round green flower heads. The two hornworts are drawn low on the sheet as feathery, densely whorled dark green shoots, and the small nettle branches out at the right. On Plate 195 a pale yellow green hop cone hangs at the center below broad toothed leaves and sprays of small flowers. The elms are given with dark purple flower clusters at the upper right, fringed purple and white flower tufts at the left, and pale papery winged fruits at the lower left, while the pellitory of the wall branches at the lower right on reddish stems with tiny pale flowers.

The plates belong to The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain, the six volume flora that Anne Pratt, 1806 to 1893, wrote and illustrated herself. It was published in London by Frederick Warne and Co. of Bedford Street, Covent Garden, for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, with 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. These sheets come from Volume V, whose title page records 237 species in color.

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along the edges of both sheets. Light foxing in the margins of both sheets. Slight wear at the corners of both sheets.

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