Art in Nature: Classical Botanical Prints from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century

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More than 500 color plates... Art in Nature brings together a superb selection of plants from all over the world in illustrations dating from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. These beautiful hand-colored plates, executed by such talented botanical artists as Sydenham Edwards, Walter Fitch and James Sowerby are taken from Curtis's Botanical Magazine, which is now The Kew Magazine. This publication holds a unique position among journals for the influence it has had on gardening, and has become renowned for its long history and the scientific accuracy of its illustrations. Begun in 1787, The Botanical Magazine sought to popularize and encourage the cultivation of rare wild plants, by illustrating new and ornamental species that were being introduced into England. Many of these plants, which had been discovered by botanists and natural historians, such as John Tradescant, Mark Catesby and Francis Masson had never been described or named in any publication before. As new regions of the world were explored, the emphasis changed from plants discovered in the Americas to those of the Cape of Good Hope and India, and later the Far East. Therefore, The Botanical Magazine charts the developments of botanical exploration and changing interest in the wide range of flowers that grow in the gardens around us. The majority of the plates reproduced in Art in Nature are taken from the early years of the magazine when exploration was particularly concentrated on Europe and North America. There are, however, also a vast array of flowers from all over the world. Many of these plants, which at that time were considered to be great rarities and only grown in the gardens of nurserymen and collectors, are now our best-loved garden plants, for example, primulas, irises, gladioli, sweet peas and crocuses. Arranged in alphabetical order by family, the collection of plates in Art in Nature displays over five hundred exquisitely accurate color plates plants drawn mainly from specimens at Kew Gardens, London. Spanning 150 years, the plates demonstrate the changing techniques in botanical illustration from hand-colored engravings to lithography in the mid-nineteenth century. With the work of some of the finest botanical artists Art in Nature is a work to be cherished by all gardeners, botanists and lovers of natural history.