The glories of Spring in Australia..

On our recent trip to Europe Derek and I found some lovely rare Australian botanical engravings and lithographs. Examples of those Australian flora are shown below, but for a wider choice you can see them on our website at 
Enjoy stunning antique prints of Australian flora all year round by choosing botanical art for your walls.

Many early recordings were not published when the botanists returned to England after their voyages - from the sheer effort and cost of the work required to do this (as with Banks' Florilegium following Cook's voyage), and from the lack of finances, as with naturalist Robert Brown following Mathew Flinders's circumnavigation of New Holland (which Flinders was the first to refer to as Australia).

Joseph Banks chose the scientists, naturalists and artists who accompanied Flinders' voyage. Naturalist Robert Brown (1773-1858) collected botanical specimens with Austrian artist Ferdinand Bauer (1760-1826). In the Heritage Editions section you will now find a few rare Limited Edition reproductions of watercoloured drawings by Ferdinand Bauer from "The Australian Paintings of Ferdinand Bauer" - a selection from his Illustrations Florae Novae Hollandiae (Illustrations of the Flora of Australia) originally published in London circa 1815. When Robert Brown could not find financial support for publication on his return to England, Bauer left England and returned to Vienna, where he finished his series of superb drawings of Australian plants and animals. Both Ferdinand and his brother Franz Bauer (1758-1840) showed considerable talent as botanical artists when young. The high quality of their botanical illustrations combined exceptional scientific observation with subtle artistry. The accuracy of the scientific descriptions of new botanical species seen during the voyage by English naturalist Robert Brown, would undoubtedly have contributed greatly to the accuracy of these Ferdinand Bauer botanical illustrations. On seeing his work, Goethe (his contemporary) wrote "It is a real joy to look at these plates, for Nature is visible, Art concealed."

Besides Paxton lithographs and aquatints and some fine Curtis botanical engravings, our other happy find was a few paper-wrapped 'parts' with stunning lithographs from “The Flowering Plants and Ferns of New South Wales” by J.H. Maiden, F.L.S., assisted by W.S. Campbell, F.L.S. Published between 1895 and 1898 by the New South Wales Department of Mines and Agriculture (Forest Branch) with the intention of familiarizing the public with the Colony’s principal flowering shrubs, plants, ferns, and forest trees of economic value. (Some of these are pictured above.)

Having scanned and researched our latest findings, a wide range of beautiful early illustrations of Australian native plants are currently available on our website. Original antique prints of flowers, herbs, nuts, mushrooms, vegetables and fruit can be found under antique prints/botanicals and on our Home Page carousel. We also have a wide range of other rarely seen reproductions and Limited Editions of Australian flora under Heritage Editions.