60 THE JOUllXAL OF BOTANV 



Descriptions of the Genei'a of British Flowering Plants, with the 

 Specified English Names, Linnseaii Class and Order, Natural Order, 

 Generic and Specific Characters, and References to the most popular 

 Botanical Works, Localities, Time of Flowering, and Dissections 

 showing the essential characters. William Baxter, F.H.S., A.L. 

 and M.B.S." This applies to the extension beyond the first two 

 volumes ; and the price (possibly increased to other than the original 

 subscribers) is given as, coloured 1/6, plain 1/- (Loudon's Gard. 

 Mag. iii. p. 606.) 



After the issue of twenty numbers, comprising eighty plates, by 

 March 1834, these parts were issued as a completed volume, to which 

 a preface (dated Feb. 2o, 1834) is appended, explaining the object 

 and scope of the work, and expressing gratitude for support already 

 experienced. The full titlepage is now headed: — "British Phaeno- 

 gamous Botany, or Figures and Descriptions of the Genera of British 

 Flowering Plants, by W. Baxter, A.L.S., F.H.S. , &c.. Curator of the 

 Oxford Botanic Garden, Oxford (Parker) ; Published by jbhe Author." 

 (The term Phaenogamous (cf, Lindle3^'s Synopsis (1828) is used in 

 contradistinction to his previous issue of Cryptogamce Oxoniensis.) 



The plates in the first volume are mostly rather poor ; the majority 

 are neither signed nor dated, and the work was distinctly an amateur 

 production. The first plate dated is Jan. 1833 ; some of the earlier 

 figures were touched up, revised, dated, and sometimes redrawn in 

 later reprints, and so appear in the completed volumes, the revised 

 ones being dated 1833. It is significant that Dr. Daubeny was 

 appointed Professor of Botan}^ on Feb. 8th, 1834, and botanical 

 matters began immediately to improve ; but whatever assistance 

 Baxter may have had subsequently, he had got started and well on 

 with the work, on his original lines, entirely on his own initiative. 

 The financial side of the venture was in the hands of Parker, the well- 

 known Oxford bookseller, who also attended to the disposal of the 

 copies. The work was pnnted by King, of St. Clements, near the 

 Gardens, and the figures were drawn by local artists. Isaac Russell, 

 an Oxford glass-painter, drew over 200, and was entrusted with the 

 best coloured figures ; C. Matthews drew another 200, including all 

 the Grasses and Sedges, as also inconspicuously coloured ones (Umbel- 

 liferaj, small Crucifene, <fec.) : some effective "natural" figures are 

 signed Delamotte. C. Matthews engraved over 350, other engravers 

 — Willis, Albutt, and Whessell — a few. The colouring of the plates 

 was done by Baxter's daughters, and more especially by his daughter- 

 in-law Mrs. W. H. Baxter ; as the work ran to 600 coloured sets of 

 figures, the labour was considerable. 



The work proceeded steadily at the same rate throughout the 

 years 1834—1835, though great changes involving rebuilding and re- 

 arrangement were going on in the garden, and Baxter's time must 

 liave been fully occupied. It is clear that the maintenance of the 

 output of a plate and text each week involved considerable ingenuity 

 in looking after the specimens, as plants are only available in the 

 summer months, or for a short time, and a stock requires to be held 

 in reserve. A few older undated figures may tluis appear in a later 

 volume. After 1834. howevei-, the plates are normally signed and 



