Australian Pachygone longifolia, Bailey. Flora of Queensland c1900.

by Bailey, Frederick Manson

Antique print of Pachygone longifolia, Australian native botanical lithograph with later colour.

In 1839, Frederick Manson Bailey (1827-1915), migrated from England to Adelaide with his parents. When 12, he began working at his father’s plant nursery in Adelaide. He tried his luck at the goldfields in Bendigo, then went to New Zealand where he bought land. In 1861 Bailey moved to Brisbane and opened a plant seed store. He also collected plants for sale to overseas institutions. In 1875 Bailey was appointed government botanist to investigate possible threat of pastures and plants to livestock. From 1880 to 1882 Bailey was acting curator of the Queensland Museum, and in 1890 was appointed Colonial Botanist.

F.M. Bailey wrote numerous botanical papers, but his Flora of Queensland, published in Brisbane between 1894 and 1902, with finely lithographed illustrations, is his greatest memorial. A self-educated botanist and a kindly man, Frederick Manson Bailey, C.M.G., F.L.S. was a foundation member of the Royal Society of Queensland.

Frederick James (Fred) Elliott (1865-1927) painted watercolours and oils, and exhibited landscapes (signed J. Elliott) and maritime subjects (signed F. Elliott) - at the Queensland National Association, Queensland Art Society, and New Society of Artists. In the late 1890s he was a lithographic artist in the Queensland Government Printing Department, where is was best known for his botanical studies for Bailey’s Queensland Flora.

This lithograph is on fine paper with the usual age-discolouration and a mark at top left. It is mounted between antique-white conservation rag-mat ready for framing. Page size 245 x 155 mm (9.5 x 6 inches) External size for frame is 338 x 255mm.