Torr Antiques & Decorative Arts

Description

Rare, genuine hand-coloured copper engraving of a Great Lily with a Purple Saffron coloured flower drawn and engraved by John Edwards for 'The British Herbal', dated 1769.

The Great Lily is Plate 70 in the series

It is beautifully framed in an ivory mount with grey line and a pale grey chalky-finish painted oak frame. A label on the reverse states that it was framed by Stephen Murphy Frames of London SW18 using conservation materials.

This is one of 100 hand-coloured engraved plates by J. Edwards, Ferner, W. Darling and I. Fougeron after drawings by J. Edwards. The first issue was published in monthly parts in 1769-1770 under the title 'Edwards's British Herbal' with the second issue following shortly afterwards in 1770 it was titled 'The British Herbal, containing one hundred plates of the most beautiful and scarce flowers and useful medicinal plants which blow in the open air of Great Britain, accurately coloured from nature with their botanical characters, and a short account of their cultivation...' and printed in London for the author and sold by J. Edmonson and J. Walker.

It was reissued again in 1775 as A select collection of hundred plates. 'In its graceful illustrations the artist allowed his imagination free rein, feeling no need to consult a botanist or to tailor his drawings to the exacting requirements of science' (L. Tongiorgi Tomasi, An Oak Spring Flora p. 246). The work is an herbal in name only, with text compiled from the descriptions in the works of Edwards' contemporaries, and ordered according to Edwards' innate design sense rather than Tournefort's or Linnaeus' classification. By the third issue Edwards clearly felt that the pretence had gone on long enough and the title was changed to the more accurately named 'A select collection of one hundred plates'.

A fine copy of the First Edition, second issue containing all 100 plates realised GBP 23,000 at Christies in March 2000.

P&P £7.50 within the UK. Please contact us for combined postage cost if you are buying two or more from this series, or if you live overseas