- Robert Furber
Robert Furber (1674-1756) was a British
horticulturist andauthor , best known for writing the first seed catalogue produced inEngland cite book
last = Blunt
first = Wilfrid
title = The Art of Botanical Illustration
publisher =Dover Publications
year = 1994
pages = 134-135
isbn = 0486272656 ] .Furber was a member of the "English Society of Gardners", a group formed in 1724 to protect the reputations of plant growers by mutually agreeing to names for newly-discovered plants. Furber contributed to the group's work, including collaborating on a book documenting the plants discovered and named by the group.
Furber's most notable work was "Twelve Months of Flowers", published in
1730 . The book was written as a catalog of plants and seeds, and featured twelve detailed engravings of seasonal plants in bloom.Henry Fletcher produced each of the twelve hand-colored engravings from paintings byPieter Casteels . Each plant was numbered, with a list of the corresponding species names provided. More than 400 different species of plant were featured. The plates were originally sold on a subscription basis for £1 5s in uncolored form, or £2 12s 6d for a colored version. [cite book | last = Harvey | first = John | title = Early Gardening Catalogues | publisher = Phillimore | year = 1972 | isbn = 850330211X] The book was reprinted in1982 . [cite book | last = Furber | first = Robert | title = Twelve Months of Flowers | publisher = Pierpont Morgan Library | year = 1982 | isbn = B0006YCFJY]In 1732, Furber produced a follow-up work entitled "Twelve Months of Fruit". Like his previous collection of flowers, "Twelve Months of Fruit" featured twelve full-color plates with 364 different fruit. Each plate focused on one month, and showed the varieties of fruit that would ripen during that month. [cite web |url = http://www.dietzpress.com/ffruits.html |title = The Dietz Press: Robert Furber Fruit Prints |accessdate = 2007-11-27 |publisher = The Dietz Press]
Other works by Furber include a 1732 book entitled "The Flower Garden Displayed," a general-purpose book written for a wider audience.
References
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