Vintage Smithsonian's Botanical Prints Unframed by Mary Vaux Walcott Set of 4 Lilies Including the Original Print's Description by the Author 1925

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This 1925 set of 4 lovely vintage reproduction of the Smithsonian's Botanical Prints by Mary Vaux Walcott featuring Lilies including … Read more This 1925 set of 4 lovely vintage reproduction of the Smithsonian's Botanical Prints by Mary Vaux Walcott featuring Lilies including the original print's floral description by the author and make a delightful grouping for any room.
Each unframed print is 12.5" x 9.25" is stored individually in resealable plastic bags with a hard cardstock and the original author's description of the plant.

57. Arethusa. Arethusa bulbosa, LINNAEUS
95. American Pasqueflower, (flower). Pulsatilla ludoviciana (NUTTALL) HELLER
148. Canada Lily. Lilium canadense, LINNAEUS
161. Bottle Gentian. Gentiana saponaria, LINNAEUS

Overall good condition, with some yellowing and foxing consistant with age. Beautiful prints.
Please review photos closely before purchase.

FROM: North American Wild Flowers
By Mary Vaux Walcott, (1860-1940)
Originally printed by the Smithsonian Institute in 1925 in 5 volumes.
Original descriptive text (or photocopy) accompanies print.

During Mary Vaux Walcott’s early years, on family summer vacations to the Rockies, Mary Vaux (rhymes with fox) developed into an accomplished amateur botanist, watercolorist, and mountaineer. Her wildflower publication was to become "the Audubon of Botany," and a 10,000-ft. peak in Jasper Park was named for her. After she married Dr. Charles D. Walcott, a noted geologist and Secretary of the Smithsonian, she accompanied him on his field trips. "This afforded me a wonderful opportunity for intimate study of the flora, my aim being to collect and paint the finest specimens obtainable, and to depict the natural grace and beauty of the plant without conventional design." She typically sketched while the pack-trains were stopped or being made ready, often warming her hands first by a small fire, and then finished the beautiful watercolors once back home in the East. Because of the short and tentative season of the wildflowers, and the often inhospitable locations on mountainsides, this endeavor occupied many seasons and arduous trips.
"As time went on and the collection grew, botanists, artists, and others interested in flowers began to urge that the water-color sketches should be permanently preserved and made available for students and lovers of the beautiful in Nature, before the dust of time faded and browned them to the hues of the pressed flowers of the herbaria." The result was the publication in 1925 of these astonishing volumes containing over 400 colored lithographic prints. Indeed, they deserve to be called "the Audubon of Botany." See less