Robert Mackenzie Stark (1815 /1873) - Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823 /1901) - Lot. of 12 sheets - "The Instructive Picture Book, or Lessons from the Vegetable World" - 1863

Lot of 12 plates drawn from the work "The Instructive Picture Book"

Excellent inking and copperplate (intaglio) printing on paper. Good preserved condition, with diffuse foxing and browning, visible signs of binding on the left/right edge of the image. The paper shows a light, natural patina of aging, all as in the photo; Shipping insured via Bartolini/DPD/Postal service. To activate the insurance coverage, any damage to the package must be contested and reported to the carrier at the time of delivery. Otherwise, the insurance reimbursement procedure cannot be initiated.

Hand coloring (Watercolor): This is the most precious feature. Once the printed outline had dried, a team of skilled artisans and colorists applied the colors (mainly watercolors and sometimes gum arabic washes to give gloss) entirely by hand, sheet by sheet, faithfully following the artist's original model.

Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823–1901) was one of the most prolific and popular writers and philanthropists of the Victorian era. Although today she is remembered mainly by literary historians, in her time her books rivaled Charles Dickens in popularity and enjoyed the admiration of figures such as Lewis Carroll, Alfred Tennyson, and Prime Minister William Gladstone.

Robert Mackenzie Stark (1815–1873) was an important Scottish botanist, nurseryman, and seed merchant of the Victorian era. In the work "The Instructive Picture Book", he played a crucial role as artistic and scientific editor, organizing the instructional sequence and supervising the accuracy of the splendid 31 botanically engraved and hand-colored plates.