kudos, boston public library: vintage plant prints
ALL HAIL TO THE PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM, and especially those institutions that are finding funds and making time to digitize their precious assets and share them with an ever-wider community. You’ve heard me praise the Library of Congress before; today let’s visit Boston Public Library, America’s oldest free municipal library system, whose collection of 19th-century chromolithographs by Louis Prang & Company is just one of many reasons to make the stop. A slideshow sampler of some of my favorites follows:
As the text on Boston Public’s Flickr photostream explains, Louis Prang (1824-1909) was a German immigrant whose highly successful Boston-area printing operation made high-quality prints and also, in the 1870s, began producing America’s first Christmas cards, virtually starting that tradition.
But what caught my eye when Flickr-lurking friend Pam Kueber of the Retro Renovation blog passed me the Boston Public link, were juicy heirloom tomatoes (above) and tender portraits of familiar animals and local vegetation. Some of what I loved from the giant trove of riches you simply must “go” see is in the show below.
Click on the first thumbnail to start the show, then toggle from slide to slide using the arrows beside each caption. Enjoy!
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- Bless the public library system, and especially those that avail themselves of current technology. America’s oldest free municipal library, Boston Public, founded in 1848, has extended its community as far as my house and yours by digitizing so many wonderful works, including a collection of prints by the 19th-century printing house of Louis Prang. This chromolithograph of heirloom tomatoes is one of my favorites.
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- I have always has a soft spot for images of plants, especially edibles, and have many in my home (though few as luscious as these peaches).
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- Can’t you practically taste those grapes?
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- Boston Public’s collection of images from Louis Prang’s press includes many of national parks and other wild places…
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- …and also many wild animals (like my un-favorite, the woodchuck, admittedly looking quite charming here, however).
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- Another wild thing from the collection (wild as in wild outfit, not wilderness resident). :)
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- Every manner of pesky squirrel is in the show, which can be enjoyed anytime at Boston Public’s Flickr stream: https://tinyurl.com/27aaudq
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- Bird prints are another great love of mine, and this male scarlet tanager is just one of the familiar flashy subjects.
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- Some kind of wren poses in a still life of autumn’s offerings.
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- Another fall moment: an arrangement of sumac, Asclepias pods, and goldenrod.
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- Queen Anne’s lace, goldenrod, Rudbeckia and grasses also remind me of my Northeastern region’s roadsides and fields.
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- Some of the prints are detailed representations of individual plants, like these boughs of flowering fruit trees.
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- I was positively charmed by the faces of the pansies in the collection, including this image…
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- …and this, which seems almost human (like two friends standing side by side), no?
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- Roses are plenty in the chromolithograph collection….
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- …And so are various forms of mums, from this delicious red beauty with its golden eye…
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- …to its overblown, white-as-snow cousin. The Boston Public collection of 1,500 Louis Prang and Company images includes much more — but you will have to visit it online to see. https://tinyurl.com/27aaudq
Giant thanks to Boston Public Library for its extensive online collections and its Flickr photostream.
Oh Margaret….These are absolutely beautiful!!! I actually thought of you this past weekend when I picked up Cynthia Westcott’s THE GARDENER’S BUG BOOK -4th ed., at a used book store. The images are striking. I’ll use them on some mixed media projects. Thanks so much for sharing these!! I will be sure to check out more on the links you provided.
Those are gorgeous! How awesome!
How wonderful! I love the picture of the cat but must admit the one of the pansies freaks me out a bit. I’m not sure why, but it does. Isn’t it interesting how many of the floral arrangements feature todays’ weeds’?
The print of Queen Ann’s Lace and Rudbeckia was exactly what I needed to add some extra inspiration to a felt project I’ve been working on. I wanted to do QA’sL, but I couldn’t quite see what to put with it.
Thank you!
What a stunning collection of prints! Thank you so much for sharing them with us.
They are gorgeous, you feel able to reach out and touch them
Those pansies are just like some I had growing until the heat got to them, only mine didn’t have legs and looks like bodies! Thanks for sharing~
Thanks Margaret! I love vintage botanical prints and find them wonderfully inspiring for my work. Thanks for sharing these.
Welcome, Wendy…the idea that something I stumbled across would inspire your artistry makes me smile. I hope that you are well, and I will be digging around libraries all over the world so more to come. Hope to “see” you again soon.
So what did Jack the demon cat say about that “dandy” cat portrait? Sebastian, my cat said he is glad he lives in the modern era. Pippa Piebald my daughter’s cat was too busy catching goldfinches in the lettuce patch to comment.
@Nora: He refuses to play dress up, my Jacko the Wacko. “No stupid outfits, Mom,” he says, snarling and with claws outstretched. “No stupid outfits; I’m a tough guy.” :)