The Golden Age of Flowers

Botanical Illustration in the Age of Discovery 1600-1800

Celia Fisher

The Golden Age of Flowers
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Celia Fisher

Distributed for British Library

144 pages | 100 color plates | 8 3/4 x 9 1/2 | © 2011
Paper $20.00 ISBN: 9780712358958 Published March 2013 For sale in North and South America only
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries witnessed a surge in the study of and interest in botanicals that led to some of the greatest books of plant illustration ever made, including such outstanding examples as the Hortus Eystettensis, work by Maria Sibylla Merian, Thornton’s Temple of Flora, Banks’s Florilegium, and Sibthorp’s Flora Graeca. Culled from these masterpieces of botanical art, this lavishly illustrated new book reproduces one hundred of the most beautiful flower images from this period.
 
As Celia Fisher explains, during this time several developments took place that led to a significant increase in the popularity and output of botanical illustration, including the revolution created by the advancement of metal engraving, the development of the new Linnaean system for classifying types of plants, and the epic voyages of discovery that recorded and collected the exotic plants encountered in remote, uncharted lands. The historical illustrations presented here are arranged in alphabetical order by flower with an accompanying text that outlines their geographic and botanical origins, the derivation of their names, and the properties for which they were most valued.
 
This beautiful and informative book will appeal to gardeners and flower lovers as well as readers interested in the history of botany and illustration.

Anna Pavord | Independent (UK)
“Using images from some of the most celebrated botanical works in the British Library, Fisher arranges a vivid alphabet of flowers. She starts with an alstroemeria by the great French artist Redoute (his Les Liliacees was first published in Paris at the beginning of the 19th century) and finishes with zinnias, which arrived in Europe from Mexico in 1753.”

Helen Asherton | Reference Reviews
“This book is really beautiful and anyone interested in art, gardening or serious botany will enjoy turning the pages.” 
Bill Spence | York Press
“A feast for the eyes, informing us of the great plant collectors and their patrons.”
Yorkshire Gazette and Herald
“This book is simply beautiful and anyone interested in art, gardening, or serious botany will love it.”
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
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