Studies of flowers from nature
Subtitle: dedicated by permission to Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth
By: by Miss Smith
Publisher: Printed for and sold by Miss Smith, Adwick Hall near Doncaster
Published: 1800
Place of publication: Doncaster [England]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 34
Subjects: Flowers; Pictorial works; Painting; Technique; Aquatint
Other titles: Smiths flowers
Notes: "This work will consist chiefly of a selection of subjects from the choicest exotics painted after Nature, with a correct outline of each, and instructions for producing a fac simile of the finished drawings by Miss Smith."

Undated; first part listed as published May 1818 in Edinburgh Magazine.

Twenty hand-colored aquatint plates, each in two states (hand-colored and uncolored).

"A finely illustrated botanical work by the unidentified artist Miss Smith. Containing uncoloured duplicate plates intended for amateurs to practice on, this is one of the finest instruction manuals supporting the contemporary fashion for flower painting."--Christie's website: https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/smith-miss%C2%A0studies-of-flowers-from-nature-dedicated-6179997-details.aspx (viewed March 27, 2019).

"We know almost nothing about Miss Smith. The very ordinariness of her name precludes us from tracing her. There was a Miss J. Smith who did botanical work in the 1790's--she might or might not be the same woman."--The Regency Blog of Lesley-Anne McLeod: http://lesleyannemcleod.blogspot.com/2013/04/miss-smith.html (viewed March 27, 2019).

The dedicatee of this volume was Princess Elizabeth of England (1770-1840), the seventh child of George III and Queen Charlotte, and an enthusiastic amateur artist, whose patronage of this work is entirely apt: she and her mother had both taken lessons in nature drawing and coloring from Franz Bauer (1758-1840), and the worth of this work would have been evident to her eye.

"Miss Smith's home, Adwick Hall, had been the residence of the Washington family in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was demolished in the early 19th century, presumably not too long after Miss Smith published her book."--The Regency Blog of Lesley-Anne McLeod: http://lesleyannemcleod.blogspot.com/2013/04/miss-smith.html (viewed March 27, 2019).

"Miss Smith's Studies was only one of a genre of floral copybooks which was fashionable and popular in the early 19th century. Very few of them have survived; they may have been discarded after their owners completed their own colouring. "--The Regency Blog of Lesley-Anne McLeod: http://lesleyannemcleod.blogspot.com/2013/04/miss-smith.html (viewed March 27, 2019).

Engraved title page.

Nissen, C. Botanische Buchillustration, BBI, 1855

Dunthorne, G., Flower and fruit prints of the 18th and early 19th centuries, 283

Lib. copy pagination has 20 leaves of text, 40 leaves of plates (some color.)

Lib. copy Poeonia, Var. uncolored plate has some green on a leaf; uncolored plate Ixia Tricolor, Var. has some yellow on a petal.

Lib. copy has list of subscribers at end, the last name marked out; pages numbered [1]-3.

Lib. copy has "Erratum" slip tipped in at end.

Lib. copy has 1 color plate laid in after second front fly leaf, by an unknown artist; hand-colored?; worn