Yale Center for British Art

Creator:

Kennedy, Elizabeth Gray, 1808-1889

Title:

Album of pressed plants collected during a tour of Europe.

Published / Created:

1856-1858.

Physical Description:

1 volume ; 27 cm

Holdings:

Rare Books and Manuscripts
QK61.K46 A43 1856+ Oversize
Yale Center for British Art, Gift of Lauren Brown

Copyright Status:

Classification:

Archives & Manuscripts

Notes:

The compiler is presumably Elizabeth Gray Kennedy (1808-1889), of Baltimore. She was the second wife of John Pendleton Kennedy, an American novelist and Whig politician who served as United States Secretary of the Navy from July 26, 1852 to March 4, 1853. Henry T. Tuckerton's The life of John Pendleton Kennedy (New York : G.P. Putnam & Sons, 1871) notes that Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy, and their daughter, embarked on a tour of Europe in 1856, from May to November. Most of the compositions in the present volume bear dates later than 1856, suggesting that Mrs. Kennedy made a second tour (or that the dates represent the moment of plant pressing).

Bound in full embossed leather.

Album of pressed plants from tours of the British Isles and the Continent, collected and compiled by E.G. Kennedy, whose autograph (above "Baltimore, 1858") appears at front. The volume is a kind of travel diary, as Kennedy collects flowers and leaves from famous locations in her tour of Europe. Each page has a careful arrangement of pressings along with a hand-written note (in pen and black ink) recording the location and date of the visit. The first 21 pressings are from specimens collected in the British Isles, from July 1856 to August 1858 (and not entirely in chronological order). The remainder are from a tour of Europe, from November 1857 to June 1858.

Contents:

[1] Flowers from Bovevah Manse and the old abbey, Dungivan, Ireland -- [2] Wild flowers from Manse at Bovevah where my dear father was born July 16th, 1776 -- [3] Leaves from the tomb of Walter Scott, Dryburgh Abbey -- [4] Ivy fern and holly, from Abbotsford -- [5] Ivy and fern from Hawthornden -- [6] Leaves from Roslin Castle -- [7] Heather from Ellen's Island, Loch Katrine -- [8] Heather and fern from Loch Katrine -- [9] Heather from Loch Achray -- [10] Flowers from the tomb of Wordsworth, Grasmere churchyard -- [11] Leaves from Fountains Abbey, and Studly Park -- [12] Netley Abbey near Southampton -- [13] Leaves from Carrisbroke Castle, Isle of Wight -- [14] Flowers from the grave of Rev. W.W. Adams, Bon Church Isle of Wight -- [15] Heather and fern from the New Forest -- [16] Fern from the New Forest -- [17] Oak leaves from the tree near where William Rufas [sic] was killed, New Forest -- [18] Leaves from the cottage where Wm. Rufas was carried after his wound -- [19] Flowers from the New Church, Bon Church, Isle of Wight -- [20] Flowers from the old church, AD 750, Bon Church, Isle of Wight -- [21] From Ben Bradagh, the mountain near Dungiven, Ireland.

Subject Terms:

Kennedy, Elizabeth Gray, 1808–1889. | Kennedy, John Pendleton, 1795–1870. | Pressed flower pictures. | Grand tours (Education) | Botanical specimens -- Collection and preservation -- Great Britain. | Botanical specimens -- Collection and preservation -- Europe. | Wild flowers -- Collection and preservation -- Great Britain. | Wild flowers -- Collection and preservation -- Europe. | Women in natural history.

Form/Genre:

Herbaria. | Albums (Books) | Botanical illustrations.