[Arabella E. Roupell] | Specimens of the flora of South Africa, London, 1849, original tan buckram by Robotham

Arabella E. Roupell (née Piggott)

Specimens of the flora of South Africa. London: E. Nicol at the Shakspeare Press, 1849

Folio (575 x 465mm.), engraved half-title with hand-coloured floral wreath, dedication, list of subscribers, 8 hand-coloured engraved plates, additional hand-coloured tailpiece vignette, original tan buckram bound by Rowbotham (with his ticket), title gilt, floral wreath design, and border to upper cover, rebacked in vellum, edges gilt, some spotting and browning at extremities, extremities slightly rubbed

One of 103 copies issued by subscription only. Arabella Roupell travelled to the Cape of Good Hope with her husband between 1843 and 1845. There she met the Danish physician and botanist Nathaniel Wallich, who encouraged her to publish her drawings. Sir William Hooker, the Director of Kew Gardens, seconded Wallich's high opinion. The book appeared anonymously in 1849, under the title 'Specimens of the flora of South Africa by a Lady', with a text by William Henry Harvey, whom Roupell recognized in her preface as an expert on South African botany.

LITERATURE:

Great Flower Books, p. 74; Nissen BBI 1687; Stafleu TL2 9684

PROVENANCE:

Urban Huttleston Broughton, 1st Baron of Fairhaven, given to his brother Henry, housed in the Anglesey Abbey library