Antique c.1820s Loddiges Botanical Engraving 'Aster aculeatus' - Ethan Allen Framed

Antique Loddiges' Botanical Cabinet Hand-Coloured Engraving, Plate No. 830 "Aster aculeatus" — Ethan Allen Framed & Double-Matted

Print: Loddiges' Botanical Cabinet, Plate No. 830

Publisher: Conrad Loddiges & Sons, Hackney, London

Engraver: George Cooke Circa: c. 1820s

Frame: Ethan Allen Home Collection (Item No. 07-9132B) Dimensions: 14.5" x 11.75" x 1"

The plate is No. 830 from Loddiges' Botanical Cabinet, published in London between 1817 and 1833 — twenty volumes, two thousand plates, engraved by George Cooke and hand-coloured by hand, one sheet at a time.

The subject is Aster aculeatus, collected on Van Diemen's Island, which is what Tasmania was called until 1856. The colour was brushed on over the engraved outline: look closely and you can see it pooling at the edges of individual leaves, no two quite alike.

The original letterpress text leaf that accompanied this plate is still tucked behind the backing board — the botanical description as it was printed, naming the species, its Linnaean class and order, and how to keep it alive in an English greenhouse.

Most of these were separated from their plates long ago. Ethan Allen framed it later, and framed it well: an ornate gilt moulding, double mats in plum and warm grey with a gold fillet line, under glass. The Home Collection label is still on the back.

Condition & Terms

Sold As-Is: Pre-owned and antique.

The sheet carries the light foxing and toning you would expect of paper this age — part of the record, not damage. Frame, mats and glass are in good order.

Please review the listing photos closely before purchasing.