With its wealth of charming watercolors, poems, and notes on the language of flowers, The Country Flowers of a Victorian Lady is destined to be a coffee-table fixture in the home of any lover of old-fashioned flowers. Kept as a private family keepsake for several generations, this gorgeous book was originally created by Fanny Robinson, who lived a quiet English country life in the last half of the 19th century. The rich, creamy paper provides a perfect backdrop for Robinson's drawings, and for those who have difficulty reading ornate penmanship, her fanciful poetry is copied onto each painting's facing page in an easily readable typeface. Most flowers tend toward the fragrantly romantic--scented geraniums, violets, pansies, and rosebuds of all types appear frequently--and researcher Gill Saunders provides fascinating comments on the historical language of flowers, providing a contextual framework to Robinson's poetry and pictures. One print shows a flowing nosegay of pansies, fuchsia, yew, and Canterbury bells, with this accompanying poem: "I have here only a nosegay of culled / flowers and have brought nothing / of my own, but the string that ties them." When we learn that pansies were sent to loved ones as a token of remembrance, and that yew was "an emblem of sadness and sorrow," readers are given a clear view not just of exquisite art but of the emotions that gave rise to that particular painting. There are plenty of happier pages as well--seasonal celebrations, love poems, memories of childhood--that gardeners, historians, poets, and artists will love. You'll want to send a thank-you bouquet to this talented woman for the generous gift of her closing poem: "The fruits I have gathered of memory / the ripened harvest of my musings / these I give unto thee." --Jill Lightner
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