The Moral of Flowers

Lovely copy of Rebecca Hey's charming Victorian book of botanical plates and poetry

With all 24 superb botanical illustrations drawn and engraved on steel by William Clark

The botanical illustrations finished to a very high standard with deep, rich handcolour

Flowers include mostly British plants such almond blossom, rosemary and violet, daisy, primrose, dog rose, lily of the valley, jasmine, myrtle, hawthorn, forget-me-not, bramble, heath, wallflower, speedwell, and a few exotic imports such as rhododendron, passionflower, etc.

With botanical information contributed by Sir James Edward Smith and James Drummond. "The engravings accompanying them, as well as the drawings from which they were taken, are the production of Mr William Clark, formerly draughtsman and engraver to the London Horticultural Society; a sufficient guarantee, it is presumed, for the excellence of their execution." (from the Preface)

Rebecca Hey (1797-1859) was an English poet and botanical artist. She was born Rebecca Roberts in Leeds, Yorkshire, in 1797, and married apothecary-surgeon William Hey in 1821. Her first book Moral of Flowers, a collection of poems and botanical art, was a success and reprinted several times. She followed it up with a second work Sylvan Musings, 1837, illustrated with her own botanical art, again engraved by William Clark. She wrote two further books of poetry, Recollections of the Lakes 1841 and Holy Places 1859.

Little is known of William Clark who worked as a botanical artist, draughtsman and engraver to the Horticultural Society of London in the 1820s and 1830s. In addition to the botanical plates in Flora Conspicua, he also contributed to Stephenson and Churchill's Medical Botany 1827-31, John Lindley's Pomological Magazine 1828, Robert Sweet's British Flower Garden 1838, and Transactions of the Horticultural Society.

In original green leather with gilt spine, scuffing on hinges and corners, green silk boards with some rippling, stain to rear board, new endpapers. Interior fresh and bright, no markings, all plates with superb rich handcolour under protective tissue guards, errata slip at back.