London: Reeve and Benham, 1851.
Broadsheet folio (747 x 545 mm). 4 lithographs with hand-colouring; 11 letterpress leaves: title-page, dedication leaf, pp. [7]-20, [21].A few very minor repairs to a few pin holes.
Modern blue morocco retaining an old (original?) blue morocco gilt title-label on upper cover.
“The giant waterlily (Victoria amazonica) is the largest of the waterlilies and the national flower of Guyana. On its classification by John Lindley in 1837, the plant was named Victoria regia in honour of Queen Victoria, who had recently acceded to the throne. The name was amended to its present form following the Queen’s death in 1901.
The first attempts to cultivate the plant by the German-born explorer Robert Schomburgk in Guyana failed, and in 1846 seeds were sent to Kew where attempts to grow them were also unsuccessful. The director of the gardens, Sir William Jackson Hooker, published an account of the attempts in the first issue of Curtis’s Botanical Magazine in 1847 . Further seeds and rhizomes (rootstalks) were sent to Kew in 1848, followed by a group of live plants in 1849, but none of these were able to survive.
The prestige of being the first to successfully grow and cause the waterlily to bloom in Britain soon developed into a competition between botanically-minded members of the landed gentry (primarily the Dukes of Devonshire and Northumberland and their gardeners), and much money was invested in developing new technologies that could better replicate the climate of the Amazon rainforest.
In February 1849, further seeds were sent to Kew, and some of these were passed on to Joseph Paxton to propagate in his new greenhouse at Chatsworth, the residence of the Duke of Devonshire. In November 1849, Paxton managed to get the plant to bloom successfully, and cuttings were sent to Queen Victoria. The following year saw the first specimen of the plant to bloom at Kew, and in 1851 Hooker published this comprehensive account, illustrated with spectacular lithographs by the Scottish artist Walter Hood Fitch, of specimens in bloom at Kew and at neighbouring Syon House (the London home of the Duke of Northumberland).
Using Paxton’s technology, lilies were soon grown successfully in greenhouses around Britain. So inspired by the structure of the lily pad, Paxton used it as the basis for future designs of his glasshouses, including the Crystal Palace.” Royal Collections Trust.
“One of the most celebrated plants from this period was the water-lily Victoria Amazonica, originally called the Victoria regia by [John] Lindley in honour of England’s reigning monarch. Discovered at the beginning of the century by European explorers, it created a veritable sensation in England when the eclectic and versatile Joseph Paxton (1803-1865) managed to coax the plant to flower [in 1849] while working at Chatsworth and Chiswick as head gardener for the Duke of Devonshire.” (An Oak Spring Flora p.378).
With its large floating leaves and white flower, the Victoria Amazonica attracted ques of visitors to the gardens where it was cultivated. When he designed the glass and iron Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition in 1851, Paxon was reportedly inspired by the structure of the leaves of the plant. Great Flower Books, p. 60.
Nissen BBI 919; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 3014 (noting 20 pages letterpress, and not noting p. [21]: “References to the Plates”).
Provenance: Massachusetts Horticultural Society (bookplate recording the gift of George W. Smith, 1852, and one other bookplate).
