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1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers
1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers

1870 Rare Victorian Floriography Book - Flora Symbolica, The Language of Flowers

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$300 USD - $300 USD
$300 USD
$300 USD - $300 USD
$300 USD

Author: John Ingram. With original illustrations printed in colors by Terry.
Title: Flora Symbolica; or, The Language and Sentiment of Flowers. Including Floral Poetry, Original and Selected.
Publisher: London, Frederick Warne and Co. / New York, Scribner, Welford and Co. (undated, ca. 1870).
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7.5 x 5.5 inches.
Pages: viii-368 pages, plus 30 full-page chromolithograph plates including the frontispiece.
Binding: Attractive and very good, handsome Victorian publisher’s decorative cloth binding in richly gilt and black-stamped design, with a central floral vignette panel on the upper board (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. All edges gilt.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, rare light foxing or staining - as shown,  a small stain appears at the upper inner margin of approximately ten leaves in the middle of the book, not affecting text nor plates - as shown, professionally replaced modern endpapers by a previous owner -  as shown).
Illustrations: Beautifully executed Victorian chromolithographs, vivid and richly printed, each embodying the symbolic and sentimental language of the corresponding flower. Complete with all 30 full-page color plates, each within ornate gilt-printed borders. All tissue guards present except for the one facing the Tulip plate (as shown).

Estimate: (USD 350 — 500).

The book: A splendid Victorian gift-book edition of Flora Symbolica, one of the most charming and influential works devoted to the language and sentiment of flowers. John Ingram blends floral symbolism, literary references, botanical lore, and romantic associations, complemented by a fine suite of thirty richly colored chromolithograph plates. These ornamental flower portraits — each framed in elaborate gilt borders — capture the elegance, sentiment, and decorative spirit of mid-nineteenth-century book design. Beyond its visual beauty, the volume offers a fascinating window into the Victorian fascination with coded expression, affection, morality, and spiritual symbolism through nature.

The author: John Henry Ingram (1842–1916) was an English editor and literary scholar best remembered for his important contributions to nineteenth-century literary biography and cultural history. In works such as Flora Symbolica, Ingram combined scholarship with aesthetic sensibility and poetic interpretation, curating floral legends and symbolic meanings drawn from classical literature, folklore, and Romantic poetry. His writings reflect the Victorian era’s profound engagement with nature, sentiment, and the decorative arts, making this volume not only a beautiful artifact but also a meaningful cultural document of its time.