Snake's Head Fritillary and Wild Tulip, Antique Botanical Plate, circa 1873

This is an original antique botanical plate, Plate 228 from Volume V of Anne Pratt's The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain, circa 1873, showing six British plants including the snake's head fritillary and the wild tulip. The caption names Mountain Lloydia (Lloydia serotina), Wild Tulip (Tulipa sylvestris), Common Fritillary or Snake's Head (Fritillaria meleagris), Common Meadow Saffron (Colchicum autumnale), Mountain Scottish Asphodel (Tofieldia palustris) and Jointed Pipewort (Eriocaulon septangulare).

The snake's head fritillary hangs at the center of the sheet, its nodding bell checkered in rose and dark purple. The meadow saffron opens at the upper left as a wide rose colored flower with yellow anthers, and the wild tulip stands at the upper right in clear yellow. Small white flowers of the mountain lloydia, touched with pink and yellow, sit at the top on slender arching stems, the pipewort shows small round gray green heads on bare stems, and grassy tufts with their roots fill the foot of the sheet.

The plate comes from The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain, the six volume flora for which Anne Pratt (1806 to 1893) wrote the text and drew the plants. It was published in London by Frederick Warne and Co., Bedford Street, Covent Garden, for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, circa 1873, with Scribner, Welford and Armstrong as the New York house. This sheet belongs to Volume V, whose title page records 237 species in color. The plates were printed in color by William Dickes of London, a licensee of George Baxter's color process.

Even age toning. Handling soiling along the bottom, right and top edges. Light spotting in the margins. Left margin trimmed close, so the numerals 1 to 3 of the caption are lost. Slight wear at the bottom right corner.

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