Himalayan Botanicals Book of Postcards

Works like the present must appeal to the lovers of art and horticulture, the latter of whom are mainly indebted to the labours of Botanists for the objects that afford them their greatest and most rational delight. —Joseph Dalton Hooker
Introducing his Illustrations of Himalayan Plants, Joseph Dalton Hooker (English, 1817–1911) wished he had been able to include more than a limited number of subjects, which had been chosen for their combination of “scientific interest with remarkable beauty in form or colour, or some other qualification that would render them eminently worthy of cultivation in England.” Hooker had nearly a thousand drawings to choose from thanks to the collection commissioned by his friend, the late John Fergusson Cathcart (Scottish, 1802–1851), and prepared by a team of Indian artists. In the end, Illustrations of Himalayan Plants included just twenty-four plates, mainly of plants from the state of Sikkim and all of which are all reproduced in this book of postcards.
In that same introduction, Hooker acknowledged the artists employed to create the drawings, noting the influence of Nathaniel Wallich (Danish, 1786–1854) on those he had trained at the Calcutta Botanic Garden. More than twenty-five years earlier, Wallich began publishing Plantæ Asiaticæ Rariores, an extensive record of the flora of the Indian subcontinent. That work in three volumes, containing nearly three hundred plates, included specimens from Nepal, six of which are also reproduced here.
Together, these lithographs reveal the beauty, variety, and elegant forms of the plants that grow in the Himalayas, as well as the dedication of these nineteenth-century botanists and their efforts to document them. They are reproduced from the collection of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Pomegranate’s books of postcards contain up to thirty top-quality reproductions bound together in a handy, artful collection. Easy to remove and produced on heavy card stock, these stunning postcards are a delight to the sender and receiver. Postcards are oversized and may require additional postage.