Heath’s Fern Portfolio Original Chromolithograph

Heath’s Fern Portfolio Original Chromolithograph

By Francis George Heath

1885

Chromolithograph

This original chromolithograph was once part of a larger 1885 publication that detailed British ferns with realistic coloring and size. Francis George Heath was a well-known author who wrote and edited several books on English flora. Publications like his led to a largescale Victorian craze for collecting ferns, called “pteridomania.” The industrial revolution left most people in a city with fewer and fewer green spaces. Heath argued that ferns are very durable plants and can grow in areas that other more delicate flora cannot. This movement led to an obsession with ferns in Victorian England; people collected them from nature, grew their own indoors, and even used them as inspiration for wallpaper, paintings, and architectural elements.

Condition: Very good. Overall the chromolithograph is vibrant very little damage. Occasional chips to the paper and some toning present, as expected with age.