FERNS: BRITISH AND EXOTIC : Six plates from the 1860s. Six color, wood-engraved, well-matted plates from Edward Joseph Lowe’s Ferns: British and Exotic, the six variously 4 1/4″ – 8 1/4″ x 2 1/2″ – 4 7/8″ (images), the sheets uniformly 9 1/2″ x 6″, as published in London by Groombridge and Sons (first edition of the eight volumes, 1855 – 1860, the six plates from either this first edition or an 1860s reissue), the wood-engraved plates by Benjamin Fawcett after drawings by Alexander Francis Lydon: “Stenochlaena Meyeriana – Barren Frond” Vol. 4, plate 48, Lomaria Lanceolata – Fertile and Barren F. 4, plate 61, “Aspidium Hirtum” Vol. 7, plate 11, “Cystopteris Fragilis” Vol. 7, plate 31, “Acrostichum Quercifolium” Vol. 7, plate 49, “Botrychium Lunaria” Vol. Slight foxing to three plates; very good condition throughout. Each of the six tipped to the backboard with a small piece of tape in either upper corner, verso; a previous owner’s 4″ x 1″ descriptive label on the mount below each of the plates; backboards attached with plastic tape, verso, to the slightly larger, two-ply, rag mat front boards; each window 9″ x 5 1/2″, matted dimensions 15 5/8″ x 11 1/2″; unframed, but including 15 5/8″ x 11 1/2″ foamcore framebacks in good condition.