Sinclair - 5 Hawaiian Flowers

Sinclair - 5 Hawaiian Flowers
This beautiful chromolithograph is from Isabella Sinclair's Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaiian Islands: Forty-Four Plates Painted in Water-Colours and Described by Mrs. Francis Sinclair. The work was published in London in 1885 by Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington. The plates were printed by Leighton brothers.

This is from the first edition of "one of the most prized of Hawaiian books among collectors." (Forbes) It was also the first work dedicated to Hawaiian flora and illustrated in color. "Isabella Sinclair's series of watercolors was by far the most luxurious guide to Hawaiian flora to have been published up to that time, and for sumptuousness it remains unsurpassed." (Don R. Severson, Michael D. Horikawa and Jennifer Saville, Finding Paradise: Island Art in Private Collections, Honolulu, 2002, p. 178)

Sinclair wrote in the preface to the work: "The following collection of flowers was made upon the islands of Kauai and Niihau, the most northern of the Hawaiian archipelago. It is not by any means a large collection, considering that the flowering plants of the islands are said by naturalists to exceed four hundred varieties. But this enumeration was made some years ago, and it is probable that many plants have become extinct since then."

Isabella Sinclair (1842-1900) was a Scottish botanist and illustrator. She moved to New Zealand in 1862 and to Hawaii in 1866. She painted the Hawaiian flora there while also collecting information on the species and habitats.

Provenance: From the Special Collections and Rare Book Collection at University of the Arts’ Libraries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


Paper Size: ~ 10 3/4" by 14 3/8"


Paper Type or Special Features: Color Chromolithograph.

The work is in excellent condition. There may be a few minor imperfections or faint fox marks to be expected with age. Please review the image carefully for condition and contact us with any questions