Antique Botanical Illustration Bright Red Poppy

Antique Botanical Engraving. This engraving of the Common Poppy comes from "Conversations on Botany" published in 1823 to introduce children to the Linnaean system of classification. Behind it are can be seen excerpts from an essay on flowers by the Victorian writer Clara L. Balfour (Britain, 1808 - 1878). "What a desolate place would be a world without a flower! It would be a face without a smile, a feast without a welcome. Are not flowers the stars of the earth, and are not our stars the flowers of heaven?" Note on the Background Text: This handwritten version of Balfour's text comes from an antique record ledger we found at a New Hampshire flea market some 40 years ago. We do not know who wrote the sheets. The cover page of the Journal is signed A. Johnson and titled: "The Cold Water Advocate, A Journal Advocating Temperance in all Things."