As June draws to a close, flowers, trees and plants are alive with colour. This month's Explore Your Archive theme, #EYAColourful, provides the perfect opportunity to explore three botanical books from our collections. Spanning the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, these book explore plant life through the lenses of art, science and gardening.
Wild Flowers and Plants of Rathlin Island
Off the north coast of Antrim lies the peaceful and rugged island of Rathlin. In 1746, Reverend John Gage bought the island from the fifth Earl of Antrim for £1750, and successive members of the Gage family developed the island from there. In the early nineteenth century, Catherine and Barbara Gage lived on the island and developed a keen interest in its plants and natural history. From 1840-1850, the sisters painted the wildflowers and garden flowers that surrounded them, and their albums were acquired by Belfast’s Linen Hall Library in 1998.
To mark Linen Hall Library’s 225th anniversary in 2013, eight of the Gage paintings were released in this limited-edition publication, Wild Flowers and Plants of Rathlin Island. Catherine and Barbara Gage’s paintings are a beautiful record of the island’s nineteenth-century flora.
Erucarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis
Maria Sibylla Merian’s ‘Caterpillar books’ are an early example of combining art with scientific observation. Born in Frankfurt in 1647, Merian had an interest in insects from a young age. She spent over fifty years rearing caterpillars and recording their transformation into butterflies and moths. Trained by her artist stepfather, she also became an excellent painter and she used her artistic skill to document the natural world.
Her research was published in three volumes of the Raupenbuch (Caterpillar Book), originally written in Dutch between 1679 and 1717. Hoping to reach a wider international audience of scientists, Merian began translating her books into Latin, the universal language of science at the time. After her death in 1717, her daughter Dorothea finished the translations and oversaw the publication of the first Latin edition, Erucarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis. Merian’s research into the relationship between plants and insects was a foundational contribution to the development of modern entomology, the study of insects.
This edition is printed in counterproof, a process that takes impressions from freshly printed images instead of engraved plates. This method preserves the original orientation of the artwork as well as the intricate details and vibrant colours.
Familiar Garden Flowers
Described as the Father of Amateur Gardening, James Shirley Hibberd (1825-1890) transformed gardening literature in Victorian England.
After working as a bookbinder, bookseller, writer and journalist, he eventually turned his attention to horticulture. At the time, gardening publications were written for wealthy estate owners who hired professionals to maintain their gardens. Hibberd, on the other hand, wrote as an amateur gardener for amateur gardeners. His advice came from his own experience experimenting with different methods for growing flowers, fruits and vegetables. He made gardening more accessible for ordinary people by recommending plants that were suitable for smaller gardens and more resilient to smoky urban air.
Familiar Garden Flowers is the second volume of a multi-volume series published between 1879 and 1897 with text by Hibberd and illustrations by F. Edward Hulme.
