Edwards, Sydenham Plate 1. From Alexander McDonald’s "A Complete Dictionary of Practical Gardening"

Sydenham Edwards.  Plate 1.  From Alexander McDonald’s A Complete Dictionary of Practical Gardening. 

London: George Kearsley, 1807.  8 ¾ x 7 (printed boundary lines).  Engraving.  Original hand color.  Full margins.  Very good condition. 

A print from a group of vivid and charming images issued in McDonald’s early nineteenth century dictionary of gardening.  These prints were intended to illustrate “rare and curious plants cultivated for ornament or variety,” and the plants depicted are wonderfully decorative.  The images were drawn by Sydenham Edwards, who was perhaps the most noted British botanical artist around the turn of the century.  The style of the engraving and hand coloring harks back to the eighteenth century.  For color, composition and general attractiveness, these are superb examples of their genre.