Anne Pratt

A Bee Orchid by Anne Pratt

Anne Pratt (5 December 1806 - 1893) was a botanical illustrator from Strood, Kent. She was one of the best known English botanical illustrators of the Victorian age. She was the second of three daughters of Robert Pratt (1777–1819), a grocer, and Sara Bundock (1780–1845). Due to poor health and a 'stiff knee' in childhood she missed out on 'outdoor activities' and was encouraged to occupy herself by drawing. Anne Pratt was educated at Eastgate House, Rochester, and was introduced to botany by Dr. Dods, a family friend. She moved to Brixton, London in 1826 where she developed he career as an illustrator. She settled in Dover in 1849, then in East Grinstead in 1866 where she married John Pearless. They then moved to Redhill. She died in Shepherd's Bush, London.

Anne Pratt wrote more than 20 books which she illustrated with chromolithographs.^[1]. Anne Pratt's works were written in popular style but were said to be accurate. She was responsible for the popularising of Botany. She never achieved critical acclaim on the grounds that she was self taught.^[2] She collaborated with William Dickes, an engraver skilled in the

Selected works

• The field, the garden, and the woodland, published in 1838.
• The Pictorial Catechism of Botany. Suttaby and Co, London, 1842.
• The ferns of Great Britain, c. 1850
• Wild Flowers 1852 (2 vols.) Also published as classroom wall hangings.
• Poisonous, Noxious, and Suspected Plants, of our Fields and Woods. 1857
• The flowering plants, grasses, sedges, and ferns of Great Britain and their allies the club mosses, pepperworts, and horsetails., 1855–1866, 5 vols. London: Frederick Warne and Co. A sixth vol was added in 1873, on the grasses sedges and ferns.It was promoted by The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK). The original 5 volumes were titled The Flowering Plants of Great Britain.
• The Language of Flowers the Associations of Flowers Popular Tales of Flowers, with Thomas Miller, Simpkin & Co Limited, London. 1846
• Chapters on Common Things of the Sea-side, S.P.C.K., 1850.
• Our Native Songsters, SPCK, 1857.
• Haunts of the Wild Flowers. Routledge, Warne and Routledge, 1863
• The Garden Flowers of The Year, Religious Tract Society, 1846
• Wild Flowers of The Year, Religious Tract Society, 1846

References

1. ^ Popular Botany in the Nineteenth Century
2. ^ The University of Delaware: The Art of Botanical Illustration. Women Illustrators

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