A Lovely 1930s Herbarium of British Plants
Our loveliest recent acquisition is this herbarium created during the 1930s by Elsie T. Skinner, who was attending St. Katharine's College in Tottenham.
We specialise in herbaria of various types, especially those made by women, and this one is particularly nice. It contains 151 carefully mounted specimens, representing a remarkable 121 different species from around the UK. This is an unusually large number, particularly for a student effort. The specimens are organised by genus and almost all are labelled with both their scientific and common names. They're generally in good condition, most retaining their texture and even some colour. While many could be obtained locally in and around London, others, such as heather and crowberry, would have been collected from more remote areas, possibly during family trips or perhaps sent by friends and relatives. Below, a selection of some of our favourites, starting with yarrow:
- For more details or to purchase this herbarium, please visit its stock page.
- We also have a New Zealand fern album created by the entrepreneur and fern artist Mary Ann Armstrong of Dunedin, and a work of 18th-century nature printing by Ernst Wilhelm Martius.
