Available for listening - A collection of Roses from Nature by Mary Lawrance
Image credit: Mary Lawrance. A collection of roses from nature, 1799. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections.
A close viewing event
Mackelvie Society members are invited to view A Collection of Roses from Nature up close in the Reading Room of Auckland Libraries.
In 1799 a young woman called Mary Lawrance completed a 3 year-long project, a self-published book on roses, with all the 91 copper plates depicting varieties of roses etched and hand-coloured by herself. A Collection of Roses from Nature was the first book to be wholly devoted to roses, predating Pierre Redouté’s more famous book by nearly 20 years.
The Mackelvie Trust purchased this rare book printed from Mary’s own hand-drawings in 2014 and the Library has recently digitised the entire work to make it accessible for research.
Join Jane Wild and Tim Barnett in viewing the original plates and visit the Digitisation Suite where all 91 plates were digitised.
The eighteenth century botanical theme will be extended further with special guest and botanical artist Karin Montgomery. Karin joined the party with her contemporary botanical insights and shared her recreation of Rosa Provincialis B - a Blush province Rose. View more works by Karin at https://annamilesgallery.com/artists/karin-montgomery/
Thursday 9 June
1pm – 2pm
Auckland Libraries Reading Room
Guests for the Mary Lawrance event will meet on the 2nd floor in the Heritage Collections Reading Room on level 2 of the Central Library.
Listen to the podcast
If you missed the close-viewing event with Auckland Libraries rare book specialist Jane Wild, you can enjoy this recording from Ngā Pātaka Kōrero - Auckland Libraries on Soundcloud. It’s a phenomenal listen, over 200 years after the book was completed by Mary Lawrance.
Both the book and the recreation of Rosa Provincialis B - a Blush province Rose will be available for viewing in the Special Collections Reading Room Level 2, Central City Library during August 2022.
You can view the digitised book on Kura Heritage Collections online:
kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz
kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz
Image credit: Jane Wild shows the book, photographer Sophie Matthiesson
Music credit: L'Etoile danse (Pt. 1) by Meydän