| James Sowerby Gallery |
| The Florist's Delight | |||
| Gardening, a preoccupation of the English, demanded proper illustrated books. A number of serial publications, whose plates were issued periodically, met this need. "The Florist's Delight" was Sowerby's first independent attempt at publishing a serial. His splendid eye for design is uniformly present in all the plates for this outstanding work, which featured classic florist's flowers, including tulips, carnations, auriculas and anemones. Unfortunately, the money supplied by the subscribers to Sowerby's serial was not enough to finance its continuation, and production was halted after the appearance of only the first three issues. A total of just eighteen different plates were executed during its three years of existence. As a result, these beautiful flower designs are of exceptional rarity. Sowerby continued to contribute drawings to the works of others, and his outstanding engraving skills were also utilized by many of the major firms of the early nineteenth century. The artist and his work are ranked with Robert John Thornton, Pierre Joseph Redouté and George Dionysius Ehret among the giants of European botanical illustration. These two tulip engravings are outstanding impressions from "The Florist's Delight," prized for their vibrant beauty, rarity, and excellent condition. | |||
| Publication City: London Medium: Engravings with original hand color Dimensions: Each plate size approximately 18 x 11 inches Date: 1789-1791 | |||
| SELECTIONS FROM THIS WORK | |||
 White Tulip details |  Yellow Tulip details | | |
