Manuscript comprises title-page; 90 water- and bodycolor drawings, 9 ¾ x 7 ¾ inches, containing guard leaves, and most inscribed with the plant name; one dried fern specimen on leaf numbered “42”; a folded leaf with poems, possibly by the artist’s daughter, “For the Flora of 1840” and “For Mamma’s Book of Flowers. 1839” (both signed: “Louisa”) is loosely inserted along with another leaf of dried plant specimens. Bound in tan calf; re-backed; stamped in gilt and blind; t.e.g. In brown cloth slip-case. Spine height: 10 ¾ inches. Watermark in folded leaf with poems: 1856. Watermark in manuscript leaves: J. Butler.
Original held by the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, Virginia.
Drawings are inscribed:
Black-berry Lily. Ragged Robin.
Clematis virginica.
Houstonia. Venuss pride. Innocence. Caerulia.
Unlabeled.
The Dandelion is spread over the whole face of the globe. its flowers shut and open at certain hours; serving the Shepherd for a clock, while its feathery tufts, are his Barometer, predicting calm or storm.
