THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN.
The following 4 lots are from a collection of 12 volumes, collectively titled British Botany, that were, until recently at Apperley Court, Gloucestershire. The majority of the drawings are by the talented sisters Charlotte and Juliana Strickland, daughters of Sir George Strickland Bt. of Boynton, Yorkshire. From the early 1800s they lived at Apperley Court (the home of their brother Henry Eustachius Strickland), and indeed died there aged 74 and 84 respectively. Their cousin (and brother-in-law) Strickland Freeman was keen to see their work published, but felt that the engravers and colourists of the day would not be able to do justice to the very fine originals. The publication of Bauer's Delineations of exotick plants ... at Kew in 1796 apparently changed Freeman's mind, and at his own expense he set out to publish (and edit, with the help of Dr. George Shaw) what became Select Specimens of British Plants. Only two parts with 10 plates ever appeared, but the quality of the plates was recognised and Sir J.E. Smith refers to "those exquisite elaborate plates ... said to be the performances of two ladies, who certainly rank as artists in the first line". The wide selection offered here would certainly support this statement.
The sisters evidently approached their self-imposed task both methodically and scientifically: the result is that the watercolours are not only beautiful but anatomically accurate. It is not known whether or not they received any formal training, but, they would certainly have encountered a highly stimulating intellectual atmosphere through family and social contacts alone. Edmund Cartright (1743-1823, inventor of the power loom) was the father of Henry Strickland's wife Mary. Henry and Mary's son Hugh (1811-1853) was a naturalist and geologist of note, who married Catherine, daughter and biographer of the naturalist Sir William Jardine (1800-1874). Frances Strickland, the artist of vol.11 (see lot 88), is probably the eldest daughter of Henry and Mary Strickland, niece of Charlotte and Juliana. Strickland Freeman was both a naturalist and writer on horsemanship. The albums were evidently seen by a number of the most emininent botanists of their day: vols.9 and 10 both include pencilled remarks identifying the fungi by the Rev. James Dalton (1764-1843), who evidently collected some of the specimens, and James Dickson (1738-1822), founder member of the Linnaean Society and one of the eight original members of the [Royal] Horticultural Society.
STRICKLAND, Charlotte (1759-1833), Juliana Sabina (1765-1849) and Frances. "Specimans of Britsih Plants..., albums of original watercolour drawings.
Details
STRICKLAND, Charlotte (1759-1833), Juliana Sabina (1765-1849) and Frances. "Specimans of Britsih Plants..., albums of original watercolour drawings.
Manuscript, 2° (various sizes: 360 x 270mm. and smaller). 144 FINE HAND-COLOURED BOTANICAL STUDIES, most interleaved with descriptive text in ink and tissue guards. Variously bound in blue straight-grained morocco gilt, lettered on spine "British Botany M.S.S. Vol.9 [.10; ..11]", g.e.
The majority of these accurate watercolours are of fungi (112), the minority are of seaweeds (15) and mosses or lichen (24). Vol.11 is entirely the work of Frances Strickland. In addition to the ink descriptions, a number of the plates include pencilled identification notes by 'J.D.' and 'Dixon'. (3)
Manuscript, 2° (various sizes: 360 x 270mm. and smaller). 144 FINE HAND-COLOURED BOTANICAL STUDIES, most interleaved with descriptive text in ink and tissue guards. Variously bound in blue straight-grained morocco gilt, lettered on spine "British Botany M.S.S. Vol.9 [.10; ..11]", g.e.
The majority of these accurate watercolours are of fungi (112), the minority are of seaweeds (15) and mosses or lichen (24). Vol.11 is entirely the work of Frances Strickland. In addition to the ink descriptions, a number of the plates include pencilled identification notes by 'J.D.' and 'Dixon'. (3)