Description
Philip Miller's Figures of the Most Beautiful Plants
These botanical engravings are from Philip Miller's work entitled Figures of the Most Beautiful Plants Described in the Gardener's Dictionary. Miller was a member of the Society of Gardeners, a group of the finest minds in the horticultural world whose duties included naming newly identified plants. In 1724, the Society decided to publish a book illustrating the plants they had named thus far. The Gardener's Dictionary, completed by Miller, was used as a guide for many years and later became the model for similar dictionaries. In 1755, Miller selected the best illustrations from his original Dictionary and published them in this work. The prints were then issued in 50 parts of 6 plates each, either colored or uncolored. The first complete set was finished in 1760. The prints available here are from an uncolored first edition, with recent, professional hand-coloring added. The publication date is printed on each plate.
Two more editions followed in 1771 (the year of Miller’s death) and 1809. They are on fine chain-linked paper, some of which contains various watermarks including J W[hatman]. Each measures ~ 10 1/4" by 16 1/2" with the plate marks measuring ~ 8 1/4" by 12 3/4". Most of these prints have a thin black border surrounding the image that is ~ 1/4" to 1/2" smaller than the plate mark.