Flora Conspicua; A Selection of the most ornamental flowering, hard, exotic and indigenous Trees, Shrubs and Herbaceous Plants

London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1826. First Edition. Very Good. William Clark. 8vo, 9 1/8 x 5 5/8 in. (232 x 145mm). pp [122], 60 hand-colored plates, aquatints and lithographs, by William Clark, 1 double-page, tissue-guards, occasional spotting, especially on tissue guards, small tears at top of double-page plate not affecting the image, previous owner's ink signature on front free endpaper, contemporary half-calf, rebacked retaining original backstrip with gilt lettering and decoration, a little rubbed.

[Sitwell, Great Flower Books 1700-1900 page 121; British Library BLL01002555954]. Initially published in 15 monthly parts, each with 4 plates, from July 1825 to September 1826, this is one of the great botanical plate books. The clarity and colouring and atmosphere of these hand coloured plates is of the highest order of excellence, they have great depth and luminosity, particularly in the foliage which is finely observed. Plates include Verbena Lamberti, Cassia Odorata, Papaver Nudicaule Coccinea, Lilium Pomponium, Robinia Hispida, Potentila Nepalensis, Oenothera Missourensis, and Paeonia Moutan (double page).
Little seems to be known of Richard Morris, who was a surveyor and landscape designer and flourished in the 1820's to 1830's. He was a Fellow of the Linnean Society, and secretary of the Medico-Botanical Society. His notes on the plants illustrated in this work are quite precise, and include details of where the actual specimen used was obtained.