The Flowers of Shakespeare: Willow, Crow Flowers, Nettles, Daisies, & Long-purples from Hamlet.

London:: Day & Haghe,, 1845.. First edition. Fine with rich original hand-coloring.. An original finely hand-colored lithograph of the Flowers of Shakespeare. Folio (9 3/8 x 12 1/8 inches). Elegantly French-matted in Ivory rag board with gilt line decoration, sized to 16 x 19 inches, and suitable for framing. The finest of the mid-sized Victorian botanical prints, this plate features an elegant botanical bouquet and an identified Shakespearean quote, rendered in decorative calligraphy. The stylized lettering is enhanced by an illustrated single capital letter, as found in the Early Illuminated Manuscript tradition. As a hallmark of Victorian sentiment, Miss Jane Elizabeth Giraud, (1810 - 1868) artist and lithographer, dedicated this fine botanical work to her brother, a Doctor in stationed in the British Colony of Bombay, as token of the homeland. The plates were printed and hand-colored by Day and Haghe, Lithographers to the Queen. During the mid 19th century, Britain was the hotbed of lithography production, and to be dignified as the Queen's Lithographer qualified one as the finest of artisans. Ms. Giraud's Flowers of Shakespeare exemplify the perfect union of art and literature, as found in the natural world and as quoted on the title page: "And this our life exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything". William Shakespeare.  Single sheet matted in rag board