Anne Pratt (5 December 1806 – 27 July 1893) was a

botanical Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

ornithological Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

illustrator and author from

Strood Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, South East England. Strood forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Rochester, Kent, Rochester, Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham and Rainham, Kent, Rainham. It ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

Life

Anne (also known as Annie) was the second of three daughters of Robert Pratt (1777–1819), a grocer, and Sara Bundock (1780–1845). Anne Pratt was one of the best known English botanical illustrators of the

Victorian age In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed th ...

. As a consequence of her poor health (due to rheuimatic fever) and an impaired knee, during her childhood, she was excluded from sports, and was encouraged to occupy herself by drawing. Pratt was educated at Eastgate House, Rochester, and introduced to botany - considered a suitable field for women - by Dr. Dods, a family friend. She moved to

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

, London, in 1826, where she developed her career as an illustrator. Pratt settled in

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

in 1849, and in

East Grinstead East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...

in 1866. On 15 November 1866, at age 60, at Christchurch, Luton, Kent, she married John Pearless, with whom she subsequently settled at Redhill. Pratt died in

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, its ...

, London.

Works

Pratt first rose to prominence with ''Wild Flowers of the Year,'' published in 1852–1853, which was dedicated to Queen Victoria with the monarch's permission. Pratt composed more than 20 books, which she illustrated with

chromolithograph Chromolithography is a method for making multi-colour prints in lithography, and in theory includes all types of lithography that are printed in colour. However, in modern usage it is normally restricted to 19th-century works, and the higher ...

s, on which she collaborated with William Dickes, an engraver skilled in the chromolithograph process. Her works were written in an accessible but accurate style that was partly responsible for the popularising of botany in her day. From her first book, ''Flowers and Their Associations'', her works sold well, but she did not ever achieve critical acclaim as a consequence of a bourgeois disdain for the

autodidactic Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodid ...

woman. Pratt's magnum opus is ''The Flowering Plants, Grasses, Sedges, and Ferns of Great Britain and Their Allies the Club Mosses, Pepperworts, and Horsetails'', a six-volume project assessing more than 1500 species, with 300 illustrations, that was published over a decade, between 1855 and 1873. The illustrations used a form of

chromolithography Chromolithography is a method for making multi-colour printmaking, prints in lithography, and in theory includes all types of lithography that are printed in colour. However, in modern usage it is normally restricted to 19th-century works, and ...

, the Baxter method, a commercial technique used create affordable coloured images to allow her work a broader readership. This work was long used as a standard reference work: the illustrations of ferns in the final volume continued to be used into the second half of the twentieth century; they appeared, unattributed and in very much reduced size, and in half tone, in the ''Observer's Book of ritishFerns''.''The Observer's Book of Ferns'' compiled by W.J. Stockoe, published by Frederick Warne, no date; later reprint ''The Observer's Book of British Ferns'' compiled by W.J. Stockoe, published by Frederick Warne, 1950. A number of her works are now available in the

Biodiversity Heritage Library The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is the world’s largest open-access digital library for biodiversity literature and archives. BHL operates as a worldwide consortium of natural history, botanical, research, and national libraries working ...

Selected works

* ''The Field, the Garden, and the Woodland'', 1838. * ''Flowers and their associations'', 1840. * ''The Pictorial Catechism of Botany''. London: Suttaby and Co., 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''. London: Frederick Warne and Co., 1855–1873, 6 vols. (Originally only 5 volumes, published 1855–1866, as ''The Flowering Plants of Great Britain''; the 6th volume, on grasses, sedges, and ferns, was added in 1873). * ''Chapters on Common Things of the Sea-side''. Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, 1850. * ''Our Native Songsters''. Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, 1853. * ''Haunts of the Wild Flowers''. Routledge, Warne and Routledge, 1863. * ''The British Grasses and Sedges''. Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, 1859. * ''The Garden Flowers of the Year''. Religious Tract Society, 1846. * ''Wild Flowers of The Year''. Religious Tract Society, 1846. * ''The Excellent Woman as Described in Proverbs 31''. Religious Tract Society, 1863.

References

External links

Digitized works by Anne Pratt
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pratt, Anne 1806 births 1893 deaths English nature writers English botanical illustrators English natural history illustrators 19th-century English painters