Hunt Institute Archives Text Discovery Platform

Page transcription

examples: the hundred or more volumes of vélin at the
Muséum of the Jardin des Plantes, Paris; the Walther
florilegium at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London;
the volume of Rabel drawings in the Bibliothèque Nationale,
Paris; the collections of Ehret drawings at Kew and in the
Victoria and Albert Museums; the Rinio herbal, Venice, etc.
etc. etc.

Various problems arise. First, what form should these
records take? I would suggest that a file of black-and-white
photographs, on 6" x 4" data-cards, was of the first importance.
Consider the case of A or B who wishes to study, say, the work
of Ehret. What is available to him at present? In the Hunt
Botanical
Library six original watercolour drawings, a few loose prints,
probably the illustrations in three or four printed works
(Plantae Selectae, etc). If to these could be added
photographs of the original paintings at Kew and at the
Victoria and Albert Museum, etc., and of those in private
collections (Major the Hon. Henry Broughton, Dr Joan Evans,
Lady Dorothy Randolph, etc.), he would be able to form a real
impression of the full range of Ehret's genius. There, is at
present, nowhere in the world where such a study can be made,
and I would like to see the Hunt Library become a Mecca for the
serious student of Botanical Illustration. Clearly this is
also a long-term project, but I feel that a beginning should be
made as soon as possible. As to the choice of manuscripts,
drawings etc., to be photographed, some indication of what is
most desirable may be found in my Art of Botanical Illustration,