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'New Zealand Ferns' by Eric Craig, circa 1880. A stunning tome…
Sale Title:
Auction House:
Auction Location:
Melbourne
Date:
28-Nov-2021
Lot No.
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Description:
'New Zealand Ferns' by Eric Craig, circa 1880. A stunning tome of 153 pressed New Zealand fern specimens attractively displayed and captioned. Title page includes Maori cartes-de-visite portraits and lithograph view 'Scene in Tikitapu Bush Near Ohinemutu'. Retailer's label and ink stamp 'Eric Craig, Princes St. Auckland'. Finely carved mottle kauri boards with title and red morocco spine with gilt embossing. 19th century. Eric Craig (1829-1923) was a collector, publisher and dealer of natural history and ethnography, who ran a curio business called 'The fern and curiosity dealer' near to the old Auckland Museum. The fashion to collect, cultivate and display ferns (known at the time as the 'fern craze' or Pteridomania) had spread to New Zealand from Victorian England. From his shop Craig sold (amongst other things) books of pressed ferns, specimens of which he had sourced from a string of suppliers he had in various parts of the country.
Estimate:
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Price:
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Category:
Sundries: Fern Albums