January
Robert Furber's Flora, 1749

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January
detail
Robert Furber (editor)
Pieter Casteels (1684-1749) (after)
Parr & Clark et al. (engravers)
January
From Flora, or a curious collection of ye most Beautiful Flowers as they appear in their greatest perfection each month of the Year
John Bowles (1701-1779), Black Horse in Cornhill, London: 1749
Hand-colored engraving
13 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches
Sold, please inquire as to the availability of similar items.

Botanical still life of flowers of the month of January arranged in a Baroque vase with classical details resting on a plinth. This print is one of 12 in a series of flowers of the month, originally intended to sell seeds of some of the various species shown. Prints from this series are more decorative than most botanical prints, since they show a variety in a beautiful arrangement.

The set was originally issued in 1730 by Robert Furber for what was perhaps the most deluxe seed catalog ever published, Twelve Months of Flowers, with twelve plates engraved by Henry Fletcher after Pieter Casteels, a Dutch flower painter. (Furber also engaged Casteels to help him produce the Twelve Months of Fruit.) Furber was a member of the English Society of Gardeners, a trade organization that decided in 1730 to provide a common nomenclature for plants to protect against the misrepresentation of plants sold to their clients. The elegantly arranged bouquets depicted in the prints were intended to attract customers and make it easier for them to find what they wanted. Today they remain important historical documents of species grown in 18th century English gardens.

This engraving is from a reengraved version of this work published by John Bowles in 1749. Some differences in the January plate of this edition are the inclusion of a spider hanging on its thread from the striped orange, and a beetle on the vase. (See generally Gordon Dunthorne.) John Bowles was a London printseller active from 1724-79.

References:

Dunthorne, Gordon. Flower and Fruit Prints of the 18th and Early 19th Centuries, their History, Makers and Uses, with a Catalogue Raisonne of the Works in which they are Found. Washington, DC: author, 1938, reprinted by New York: Da Capo Press, 1970.

Kraus, Evelyn L. "The Picture Garden, a history of European botanical illustration." http://www.ursusbooks.com/picture_garden.cfm.

Maxted, Ian. "The London book trades 1775-1800, a preliminary checklist of members." Exeter Working Papers in British Book Trade History. 2001. http://www.devon.gov.uk/library/locstudy/bookhist/lonb.html.

Tongiorgi Tomasi, Lucia. An Oak Spring Flora: Flower Illustration from the Fifteenth Century to the Present Time: a selection of the rare books, manuscripts, and works of art in the collection of Rachel Lambert Mellon. Uppervill, VA.: New Haven, Oak Spring Garden Library, distributed by Yale University Press, 1997. pp.143-146.