Elizabeth Twining | Illustrations of the Natural Order of Plants, 1849-1855, 2 volumes

Elizabeth Twining

Illustrations of the Natural Order of Plants. Arranged in Groups; with Descriptions. London: Joseph Cundall, 1849-1855

First edition, 2 volumes, folio (490 x 336 mm.), 160 hand-coloured lithographic plates, heightened with gum arabic, by and after Twining, printed by Day & Son, contemporary maroon half morocco by T. Fisher, spines with raised bands in six compartments, gilt edges, marbled endpapers, upper joints of both volumes splitting, extremities rubbed

Elizabeth Twining, philanthropist, educator, and botanist, was a member of the famous tea-merchant family. Inspired by William Curtis's The Botanical Magazine, she began making sketches at the Royal Horticultural Society, at Chiswick gardens, and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. She also wrote numerous religious and philanthropic writings. The two-volume folio edition of her Illustrations of the Natural Orders of Plants is considered to have a place among the finest lithographic flower books of the mid-nineteenth century. The "natural order" is that of Alphonse de Candolle, who rejected the Linnaean or "artificial" classification. The emphasis on the appearance of mature plants and their habitat rather than their physiology is echoed not only in her art but also in her lectures on plants, which as well as having a strong geographical theme also discussed how plants were used, particularly by women.

LITERATURE:

De Belder sale 367; Great Flower Books, p. 145; Nissen BBI 2018; Pritzel 9591; Stafleu TL2 15.410