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Details
MARY LAWRANCE (fl.1794-1830)
A Collection of Roses from Nature. London: Miss Lawrance, [1796-]1799. Broadsheet (490 x 380mm). 2 ll index, bound in at end, printed recto only. Engraved title and dedication, HAND-COLOURED ENGRAVED FRONTISPIECE AND 90 PLATES by Mary Lawrance. (Plates 32 and 40 cut to just within plate area and neatly remargined at ?the time of binding, lower margin of plate 40 with 28mm. tear to lower margin, plates 76 and 87 with neatly repaired tears to margins.) Contemporary red straight-grained morocco, covers with decorative border made up from various rolls and fillets, the flat spine divided into seven compartments by roll-tools, lettering-piece in the second, the others each with a single stylised vase tool (extremities lightly rubbed).
A VERY FINE LARGE PAGE COPY OF THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED MONOGRAPH ON ROSES, AND ONE OF THE MOST DECORATIVE COLOUR-PLATE BOOKS OF ITS TIME. Originally published in 30 parts from July 1796 to January 1799, the work appeared at a time when interest in the genus was gathering momentum in Britain and it was apparently heavily over-subscribed. Lawrance (later Mrs. Kearse) descibes herself as a flower painter on the title and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1795 to 1830. She belonged to a period when flower painting was considered one of the necessary social accomplishments for ladies and was able to charge half-a-guinea a lesson. She "is said to have been the possessor of much personal charm and exceedingly popular in London... [she] obtained her botanical specimens for her drawings from various nursery gardens, including the famous Vineyard nursery at Hammersmith... It was thought to be an honour for the owner as well as for the flower when Miss Lawrence painted its portrait" (Henrey II,pp.580-581). The plates in the present work show a fine sense of colour and design. It is not clear when the remargining of plates 32 and 40 took place: the plates are inset into single sheets of paper watermarked 'Whatman 1794', this watermark corresponds with that on some of the other plates, although the majority are on E.[dmeads] & P.[ine] watermarked paper, also dated 1794. The free endpapers are also marked 'Whatman 1794', which perhaps implies that the remargining was done at the time of the binding. Dunthorne 176; Great Flower Books p.41; Henrey III.948; Nissen BBI 1151; not in the Hunt or Plesch sales.
A Collection of Roses from Nature. London: Miss Lawrance, [1796-]1799. Broadsheet (490 x 380mm). 2 ll index, bound in at end, printed recto only. Engraved title and dedication, HAND-COLOURED ENGRAVED FRONTISPIECE AND 90 PLATES by Mary Lawrance. (Plates 32 and 40 cut to just within plate area and neatly remargined at ?the time of binding, lower margin of plate 40 with 28mm. tear to lower margin, plates 76 and 87 with neatly repaired tears to margins.) Contemporary red straight-grained morocco, covers with decorative border made up from various rolls and fillets, the flat spine divided into seven compartments by roll-tools, lettering-piece in the second, the others each with a single stylised vase tool (extremities lightly rubbed).
A VERY FINE LARGE PAGE COPY OF THE FIRST ILLUSTRATED MONOGRAPH ON ROSES, AND ONE OF THE MOST DECORATIVE COLOUR-PLATE BOOKS OF ITS TIME. Originally published in 30 parts from July 1796 to January 1799, the work appeared at a time when interest in the genus was gathering momentum in Britain and it was apparently heavily over-subscribed. Lawrance (later Mrs. Kearse) descibes herself as a flower painter on the title and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1795 to 1830. She belonged to a period when flower painting was considered one of the necessary social accomplishments for ladies and was able to charge half-a-guinea a lesson. She "is said to have been the possessor of much personal charm and exceedingly popular in London... [she] obtained her botanical specimens for her drawings from various nursery gardens, including the famous Vineyard nursery at Hammersmith... It was thought to be an honour for the owner as well as for the flower when Miss Lawrence painted its portrait" (Henrey II,pp.580-581). The plates in the present work show a fine sense of colour and design. It is not clear when the remargining of plates 32 and 40 took place: the plates are inset into single sheets of paper watermarked 'Whatman 1794', this watermark corresponds with that on some of the other plates, although the majority are on E.[dmeads] & P.[ine] watermarked paper, also dated 1794. The free endpapers are also marked 'Whatman 1794', which perhaps implies that the remargining was done at the time of the binding. Dunthorne 176; Great Flower Books p.41; Henrey III.948; Nissen BBI 1151; not in the Hunt or Plesch sales.