page_title: Henry John Elwes
section_title: Monograph of the Genus Lilium
hierarchical_section_title: Henry John Elwes / Career / Monograph of the Genus Lilium
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Augustine Henry &amp; Henry John Elwes, authors of The Trees of Great Britain &amp; Ireland, published 1913.
context_page_description: Henry John Elwes, FRS was a British botanist, entomologist, author, lepidopterist, collector and traveller who became renowned for collecting specimens of lilies during trips to the Himalaya and Korea. He was one of the first group of 60 people to receive the Victoria Medal of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1897. Author of Monograph of the Genus Lilium, and The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland with Augustine Henry, as well as numerous articles, he left a collection of 30,000 butterfly specimens to the Natural History Museum, including 11,370 specimens of Palaearctic butterflies.
context_section_description: Elwes' horticultural interests largely concentrated on bulbs, and he was said to have the finest collection in private hands. In 1880, he published the magnificent folio Monograph of the Genus Lilium, instigated by Elwes and written with assistance from J. G. Baker at Kew Gardens, but he wrote disappointingly little about his gardening experiences. To ensure that the text was as accurate as possible, and that the range of lilies was as complete as possible, he consulted the greatest botanical experts in the field for help in writing the text. This level of excellence was perpetuated in the illustrations, and Elwes was able to execute his plan to illustrate the monograph with hand-coloured plates by the best available botanical artist, with each member of the genus shown full size. Between March 1877 and May 1880 subscribers received seven parts (at a total cost of seven guineas), illustrated with 48 plates by Walter Hood Fitch (1817–1892). In his garden he was able to grow many of the members of the genus Lilium, becoming a recognised expert in the field. However, Elwes played down his level of knowledge.
  Shortly before his death in 1922, Elwes asked Arthur Grove, a friend and fellow lily expert, to undertake the task of producing a supplement. Dame Alice Godman, widow of Frederick DuCane Godman (whose first wife was Elwes' sister), agreed to underwrite the cost of the work (co-written by Grove and the botanist A.D. Cotton) and the first seven parts of the supplement were published between July 1933 and February 1940, with 30 hand-coloured lithographed plates, all but two by Lilian Snelling (1879–1972). Two final supplements were published in 1960 and 1962 by William Bertram Turrill.
caption: Augustine Henry (left) and Elwes, c. 1906
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