The Artist:

Augusta Hanna Elizabeth Innes Withers (née Baker; 1792, Gloucestershire – 1877, London), was an English natural history illustrator, known for her exquisite illustrating of John Lindley's Pomological Magazine and her collaboration with Sarah Drake on the monumental Orchidaceae of Mexico and Guatemala by James Bateman. She was appointed "Flower Painter in Ordinary" to Queen Adelaide and later to Queen Victoria. She also produced illustrations for Benjamin Maund's Botanis, the Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London (From whence this engraving comes), the Illustrated Bouquet (1857-1863) and Curtis's Botanical Magazine.

Besides giving painting classes, she was active as a painter from before 1827 until 1865, exhibiting from 1829 to 1846 at the Royal Academy, the Society of British Artists and the New Watercolor Society as well as the Society of Female Artists in 1857 and 1858, and where she was a founder member.

Her drawings are stored at the Natural History Museum, London, at the Royal Horticultural Society, and at the Fitzwilliam Museum of the University of Cambridge.

From the photos I've seen of her original paintings for some of her plates, she was a stunningly astute painter of fruit & flowers, with a unique ability at rendering these notoriously difficult to draw botanical & pomological species, she had a unique, impeccable, consistent skill, talent & eye. 

The Publishers:

The Transactions were published in London from 1812 to 1848 by the organization that later became the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). According to its charter, the society was formed “for the Improvement of Horticulture in all its branches, ornamental as well as useful.” The founders included Sir Joseph Banks (1743–1820), the great botanist and explorer who accompanied James Cook on his first voyage of discovery to the South Pacific; John Wedgwood (1766–1844), the son of potter and manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood; and Charles Francis Greville (1749–1809), a collector, mineralogist, horticulturalist, and member of Parliament, whose infamous mistress Emma later became Lady Hamilton and the lover of Admiral Nelson. Another important early member was the distinguished botanist Thomas Andrew Knight (1759–1838), who served as the society’s president and published many articles in the Transactions.

The Volumes: 

In Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London we find some of the most beautifully illustrated and vibrant botanical and fruit prints in botanical illustration. Many prominent artist of the day contributed to the work, including W. Hooker, Mrs. Withers, J. Robertson, B. Cotton, E. Smith and more.

For the first time in England, steel plates were used for the engravings, along with a variety of techniques including mezzotint and hand coloring. The prints are also enhanced with gum arabic so the fruits almost glisten.

These volumes are now scarce, & expensive.  A set of the first 7 volumes is listed at $14,300 USD.

The Plate:

This beautiful, large fruit print of the Duchess d'Angouleme Pear is gorgeously rendered in this very fine stipple engraving, showing the many colors of the fruit, with modeling, lighting, exquisite coloring worked into the steel plate engraving by hand.  The detail is exquisite, every spot, highlight, blemish, the irregularity of the fruit & its surface are almost hyper-real. The rendering, composition, engraving & hand-coloring are all superb.

These are very limited editions, the plates very beautiful, & quite rare. I find no other copies of this plate offered anywhere.

The drawing & coloring are quite stunning. It's a beautiful plate, full of the passion that the early flower painters, botanists & gardeners had for these amazing flowers, many of which were discovered in the pristine reaches of the ever-expanding euro-empires of the era & by intrepid explorers of the time.

These gorgeously drawn, engraved & colored original prints were presented on their page with consistently balanced, beautiful compositions.

Every part of these prints was made by hand: Hand drawn & engraved on Copper which was hand-mined, smelted & rolled, printed onto handmade cotton rag paper, inked & colored with hand-ground pigments individually by hand, & they were usually hand sewn into handmade leather-bound books.

Condition:

Appears to be in Very Good condition for a centuries-old engraving. The hand-coloring appears to remain sharp & brilliant as the day it was painted. The creamy paper looks minimally age-toned, rare for a print this old. One slight booboo to the lower-left of the fruit (an authentic artifact of life as a bookplate no doubt), looks to be expertly repaired, almost unnoticeable.

These prints are very old & may have minor imperfections expected with age, such as some typical age-toning of the paper, oxidation of the old original watercolors, spots, text-offsetting, stains, artifacts & character from  having been bound into a book, occasional light pencil markings on the backs or in margins, sometimes even notes by the original owner of the volumes, etc. Please examine the photos & details carefully.

Text Page(s): This one comes with its original text page. A scan of the title page is included in the photos for reference, it's not part of this listing.

About this gorgeous fruit:

• Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in late summer into mid-autumn. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus Pyrus in the family Rosaceae, bearing the pomaceous fruit of the same name. Several species of pears are valued for their edible fruit and juices, while others are cultivated as trees.
  
• The original pear tree Duchesse d'Angouleme was observed by M. Anne Pierre Andusson, growing in a farm garden in Anjou. Recognizing the qualities of this pear he procured several scion to graft. Later he sold the trees, in 1812, under the name of Poire des Eparannais. In 1820, he sent a basket of the fruit to the Duchesse d' Angoulême, with a request to be permitted to name the pear in honor of her. The request was granted, and the pear has since borne its present name. Duchesse D'Angouleme pear can attain an enormous size. When well grown, the Duchesse D'Angouleme pears flesh is white, buttery and melting with a rich, delicious flavor.

Shipping: Multiple prints combine into one USPS Flat-Rate envelope. If you're assessed multiple shipping for one combined package, we'll endeavor to refund any overage asap.

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