Purple, Crack and White Willow, Set of 3 Antique Botanical Plates, circa 1873

€ 325

Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)

Date: circa 1873
Mapmaker / artist: Anne Pratt
Publisher: Frederick Warne and Co., Bedford Street, Covent Garden, London
Technique: Chromolithograph
Coloring: Printed color
Sheet size: 24 × 15.5 cm (9.4 × 6.1 in)
Condition: Good
Reference: BG-14401-9

What the condition grades mean

Excellent: Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good: Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good: Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair: Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.

Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.

Condition

Even age toning. Handling soiling along the edges of all three sheets. Light spotting in the margins, with a small gray stain in the right margin of Plate 197. Small nicks at the lower left edge of Plate 198. Slight corner wear.

About this sheet

This is a set of three original antique botanical plates, Plates 197, 198 and 199 from Volume V of Anne Pratt's The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain, circa 1873. They are three original sheets sold together as one lot, and the three plates run consecutively through the British willows. Plate 197 names Purple Willow (Salix purpurea), Rose Willow (S. helix), Fine Basket Osier (S. forbyana) and Green Leaved Osier (S. rubra). Plate 198 names Blunt Stipuled Triandrous Willow (S. triandra), Sharp Stipuled Triandrous Willow (S. undulata), Sweet Bay Leaved Willow (S. pentandra) and Crack Willow (S. fragilis). Plate 199 names Common White Willow (S. alba), Yellow Willow or Golden Osier (S. vitellina), Dark Long Leaved Willow (S. petiolaris) and Rosemary Leaved Willow (S. rosmarinifolia).

Each sheet is a close arrangement of leafy willow shoots carrying catkins in green and yellow, with narrow toothed leaves on Plates 197 and 199 and broader leaves on Plate 198. Small uncolored outline drawings of the individual catkin flowers are set in the lower part of each sheet, keyed by number to the caption below.

The plates come 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. These sheets belong 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.

These are original antique plates, not modern reproductions. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.