This lovely edition of The Language of Flowers was published by T Nelson and Sons in 1857. So the book is from the early Victorian era when the language of flowers was most popular. It is bound in blue cloth over bevelled boards, withblind stamped detail to the boards and gilt to the front. All edges gilt.
The language of flowers became very popular during the Victorian era, where courting couples were closely chaperoned and monitored. The Language of flowers provided a way to send secret messages to each other through the medium of flowers.
It's in good condition but there is marking and heavy wear to the boards and board edges, which has caused some loss to the colour of the cloth. The corners are also worn, with the cloth split very slightly to revel the board beneath. There is bumping to the board edges and rubbing to the spine edges. Crushing to the spine edges has caused minor splitting in the cloth.
Inside, there is staining to the endpapers but this hasn’t reached any other pages. There is cracking to the gutter throughout the book but there are no loose pages. The pages show age toning annd foxing, with occasional marks. The illuminated plates are what make this book particularly special. There are six plates in total, five of which are illuminated
Dimensions approximately 18.3cm x 13.3cm x 1.3cm.
The book will arrive hand wrapped in patterned wallpaper and string.
I use a range of eco friendly, 100% recyclable jiffy bags and boxes, and whenever possible I use brown paper tape. The green bubble wrap is oxo-degradable and the clear bubble wrap is 100% recyclable. I also reuse boxes when I feel it's appropriate (if the boxes are sturdy enough).