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Lot Essay
John Henry Elwes (1846-1922) published the first completely illustrated conspectus of the lily between 1877 and 1880. The spectacular survey of the 50 known species of lily was illustrated by the Scottish botanical artist, Walter Hood Fitch (1817-1892), and is praised by Sacheverell Sitwell as 'one of the culminating ornaments of the Victorian age' (S. Sitwell and W. Blunt, Great Flower Books 1700-1900, London, 1990, p. 23).
At the time of publication, Elwes believed that there were very few lilies still to be discovered with the possible exception of discoveries in the Himalayan regions of China and the Korean Peninsula. At the turn of the century, as Elwes had foreseen, expeditions to the Himalayas, China and Korea yielded many new species and with the collaboration of his friend, Arthur Grove (1865-1942), Elwes began to prepare a supplement to his work.
Lilian Snelling, chief artist for the Botanical Magazine between 1922 and 1952, proved a worthy successor to Fitch and produced all but two of the 30 plates for the supplement. She started making the initial studies for the plates from about 1915, each time Elwes or Grove presented her with a new bulb or bloom. The new species were discovered as far afield as Burma, Kashmir, north-west California and Oregon. Many of the black and white drawings inserted into the text were prepared by Stella Ross-Craig (b. 1906), who also provided two of the finished plates on the occasions when Snelling was inundated with work for the Botanical Magazine and unable to draw the specimen when needed.
The lithographs in the present lot are Lilian Snelling's proof plates, hand-coloured with watercolour and annotated with the artist's instructions for the printers. The plates show 27 of the 30 species which were included in the supplement; in some cases there are two proofs for one plate.
The original drawings for the plates are now in the collection of the Lindley Library at the Royal Horticultural Society, having been sold by Christie's London, 21 June 1967, lot... (£.....).
At the time of publication, Elwes believed that there were very few lilies still to be discovered with the possible exception of discoveries in the Himalayan regions of China and the Korean Peninsula. At the turn of the century, as Elwes had foreseen, expeditions to the Himalayas, China and Korea yielded many new species and with the collaboration of his friend, Arthur Grove (1865-1942), Elwes began to prepare a supplement to his work.
Lilian Snelling, chief artist for the Botanical Magazine between 1922 and 1952, proved a worthy successor to Fitch and produced all but two of the 30 plates for the supplement. She started making the initial studies for the plates from about 1915, each time Elwes or Grove presented her with a new bulb or bloom. The new species were discovered as far afield as Burma, Kashmir, north-west California and Oregon. Many of the black and white drawings inserted into the text were prepared by Stella Ross-Craig (b. 1906), who also provided two of the finished plates on the occasions when Snelling was inundated with work for the Botanical Magazine and unable to draw the specimen when needed.
The lithographs in the present lot are Lilian Snelling's proof plates, hand-coloured with watercolour and annotated with the artist's instructions for the printers. The plates show 27 of the 30 species which were included in the supplement; in some cases there are two proofs for one plate.
The original drawings for the plates are now in the collection of the Lindley Library at the Royal Horticultural Society, having been sold by Christie's London, 21 June 1967, lot... (£.....).