Antique Natural HistoryOriginal plates from the naturalists' books, 1600s to 1900s
Sea Lavenders of the Salt Marsh, Antique Coastal Flower Print, circa 1873

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Sea Lavenders of the Salt Marsh, Antique Coastal Flower Print, circa 1873, close-up 1

Framed and on the wall

Sea Lavenders of the Salt Marsh, Antique Coastal Flower Print, circa 1873, shown framedSea Lavenders of the Salt Marsh, Antique Coastal Flower Print, circa 1873, shown framed on a wallSea Lavenders of the Salt Marsh, Antique Coastal Flower Print, circa 1873, shown framed in a room

Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look; the description says what is included.

Sea Lavenders of the Salt Marsh, Antique Coastal Flower Print, circa 1873

$205 (£155, €185)

Period original, not a reproduction.

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Shipped from the Netherlands, flat or rolled, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.

Date
circa 1873
Size
9.4 × 6.1 in (24 × 15.5 cm)
Technique
Chromolithograph
Coloring
Printed color
Condition
Good. Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom right and top left corners.
Period
Late 19th century
Section
Botanical
Reference
BG-14434-36
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.

This antique botanical plate is Plate 172 of Anne Pratt's The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain. It shows three British sea lavenders with the matted thrift of the salt marsh. Airy branching sprays of small lilac and blue flowers spread across the whole sheet, the brightest of them a clear blue at the center and the rest in soft mauve and dusty rose. Broad spoon shaped leaves rise through the middle, a woody branched rootstock is drawn at the lower left, and the open structure of the flower heads is what the plate is really about.

The sheet is a plate from Volume IV of Anne Pratt's The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain, published by Frederick Warne and Co. of London. Pratt wrote the text and drew the plants herself, and the plates were printed in color rather than painted by hand, which is what allowed a thorough illustrated flora to be sold at a price an ordinary reader could meet.

Anne Pratt, born at Strood in Kent in 1806 and self taught as a botanist, was among the best known botanical illustrators in Victorian England. Her books were accurate enough to be used and plain enough to be read, and this flora stayed a standard household reference for decades. Her drawings outlived her by a long way: the fern plates from this very work were still being reused, reduced and unattributed, in pocket guides well into the twentieth century.

Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, right and top edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom right and top left corners.

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

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