Elwes, Henry John

Two titles with decorative surrounds after W. H. Fitch. Illustration: mounted albumen photograph frontispiece by Bourne, 1 color-printed distribution map, 88 color plates, comprising 78 handcolored lithographed plates (one double-page) by W. H. Fitch (48), Lillian Snelling (28), and S. Ross-Craig (2), and 10 colored collotype plates after Margaret Stones.

1 volume, folio (22 1/8 x 15 1/8 in.; 563 x 383 mm) and Supplement in 9 original parts, unbound as issued (same dimensions as bound volume). Binding: Contemporary quarter green morocco by Zaehnsdorf, spine gilt-lettered, green buckram covers, marbled endpapers, original wrappers bound in at back; parts in original printed wrappers, housed in quarter green morocco clamshell case, spine gilt-lettered.



Plates bright and clean, with only occasional minor soiling or very light browning at edges. Front joint of binding starting with 3-inch crack at lower edge; occasional wear at edges of some wrappers of original parts.

Great Flower Books, p. 94; Nissen 594; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 1664

Plates bright and clean, with only occasional minor soiling or very light browning at edges. Front joint of binding starting with 3-inch crack at lower edge; occasional wear at edges of some wrappers of original parts.
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A complete set, including all nine parts of the supplement, of this magisterial work on one of the most beautiful of all plant families.

The work was issued in three separate and distinct stages:

The monograph was instigated by Henry Elwes (1846–1922), a plant-collector, traveler, and gardener, whose interest in botany had been sparked by a visit to the Himalayan region; the journey itself was inspired by reading Hooker's Himalayan Journals. At his garden in Colesbourne, Elwes was able to grow many of the members of the Lilium genus and was a recognized expert in the field. To ensure that the text of his monograph was as accurate as possible and that the range of lilies was as complete as possible, he consulted the greatest botanical experts in the field for help in writing the text. This level of excellence was continued with the illustrations, and Elwes was able to carry through his plan to illustrate the monograph with handcolored plates by the best available botanical artist, with each member of the genus shown full-size. Between March 1877 and May 1880 subscribers received seven parts (at a total cost of seven guineas), illustrated with 48 plates by W. H. Fitch.

Walter Hood Fitch (1817–1892) had his first illustrations published in 1834, and throughout most of the remaining part of the nineteenth century produced over 9,600 plates for all the greatest British botanical publications. Sir Joseph Hooker called him an "incomparable botanical artist," with his "unrivalled skill in seizing the natural character of a plant." The plates of the present work proved to be what Blunt calls the "most important achievement of Fitch's later career" (Art of Botanical Illustration, p. 264).

Shortly before his death in 1922, Elwes asked A. Grove, a friend and fellow lily expert, to undertake the task of producing the supplement. Dame Alice Godman, who was related by marriage to Elwes, agreed to underwrite the cost of the work, and (co-written by Gove and the botanist A. D. Cotton) the first seven parts of the supplement were published between July 1933 and February 1940, with 30 handcolored lithographed plates, all but two by Lillian Snelling. 

Lillian Snelling (1879–1972) was taught lithography by Morley Fletcher. In addition to the present plates, she is best known for her work on the Botanical Magazine, where she was principal artist for nearly thirty years, and also lithographed many of S. Ross-Craig's paintings for the periodical. Her graceful and accurate plates for the Supplement perfectly compliment Fitch's earlier work.

The final two parts to the Supplement, with text by W. B. Turrill, were published by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1960 and 1962. The ten plates were from drawings by Margaret Stones, who had been appointed principal contributing artist to the Botanical Magazine in 1958.