Sinclair, Isabella. Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands. Forty-four plates painted in water colour. 1st. Ed. Pub. Sampson Lowe. 1885
pp.[xii] with 44 fine chromolithograph plates plus a page of supporting text for each plate. Folio. Hardback. AEG. Any occ. spotting is confined to the title-page, text and verso of the plates which are in nr. fine to fine condition. Original gilt decorated cloth in good to vg. condition, with spine relaid, internal hinges strengthened and skilful repairs to corners and rear board.
Great Flower Books, p.139; Nissen BBI 1848. The author collected the flowers depicted on the islands of Kauai and Niihau, the most northern of the Hawaiian Archipelago. The appearance of each was recorded as the author feared that many species would be lost. Joseph Dalton Hooker assisted with the botanical names of the plants. H. St. John in Pacific Science (1954) wrote "This is the first book with colour pictures of Hawaiian flowering plants... Even today it has more colour plates of Hawaiian plants than any other book". Don R. Severson et al wrote in Finding Paradise: Island Art in Private Collections, Honolulu (2002) "Published in the form of a typical Victorian 'floral album,' Isabella Sinclair's series of watercolours was by far the most luxurious guide to Hawaiian flora to have been published up to that time".
£2,250.00 [Ref: 38480]