United States
£ GBP
Wild Flowers reproduces for the first time, in colour, a selection of 137 drawings from a remarkable collection of 3860 watercolours that depict almost every member of the British flora. The drawings were made between 1930 and 1955 and are largely the work of a remarkable father-and-son team: Canon Raven (1885–1964) was a distinguished theologian, naturalist and historian of science, and his son John (1914–1980) a classics don and passionate field botanist. In 1942 the Ravens wrote ten chapters intended to accompany a selection of their drawings, explaining how the collection was made – starting as a family holiday project that became something of an obsession, with Charles painting, and John travelling round the country collecting specimens. The chapters, which include essays on Galloway, Ben Lawers and Glen Clova are published here for the first time, seventy years after their conception, in time to celebrate the centenary of Mary Raven who made some of the early drawings. The book starts with a substantial introduction on the Raven family and the drawings written by Henry Noltie.
