278 



the Directorship, and during his long active career, practically 

 every illustrated publication, official or unofficial, issued from 

 Kew was adorned by his pencil. He was also a prolific contri- 

 butor to the leading horticultural publications, but on this point 

 the list which follows is eloquent. It is also evidence that Fitch 

 must have been a rapid delineator. The production of the admir- 

 able and elegant little wood-cut illustrations of Bentliam's 

 '' Handbook of the Fritish Flora/' and the '' Lilies '' of Elwes's 

 monograph, afford excellent examples of his methods of drawing. 

 In a standing position, wdth a block in one hand and a pencil in 

 the other, he drew without hesitation, and with a rapidity and 

 dexterity that was simply marvellous. The lilies he drew also 

 in a standing position direct on the stone, which was posed at a 

 slight angle. The bold freehand lines were laid on with an 

 unerring sweep of the pencil. This was in 1880, when lie was 

 no longer in his prime. Fitch ceased illustrating the Botanical 

 Magazine and other semi-official Kew publications in 187T. He 

 continued producing, however^ so far as his health permitted, 

 up till about 1888. Prominent among his latest productions are 

 the 110 beautiful plates illustrating the Botany of Salvin and 

 Godman^s ^^ Biologia Centrali-Americana," 18T9-1888. These 

 j)lates, like so many of his, were prepared from dried specimens, 

 and as a revivifier of lierbarium specimens Fitch has never been 

 surpassed, and perhaps never equalled. He w^as also as ready in 

 adapting inferior drawings; witness the magnificent ''Illustra- 

 tions of Himalayan Plants," From time to time Fitch executed 

 sets of excellent diagrams for lecturing purposes, though details 

 of what he accomplished in this direction are wanting. 



The Kew collection of drawings and publislied figures of 

 plants includes a very large number of Fitch's original drawings, 

 both published and^ unpublished. Among the latter, many 

 intended for the '' Botanical Magazine/' and the prematurely 

 discontinued ''Refugiura Botanicum/' The British Museum also 

 possesses, Dr. Eendle kindly reports, some of Fitch's original 

 drawings, including studies for the plates of the Victoria regia. 



Fitch received few distinctions, as there is no corporation that 

 recognises the merits of botanical artists- Sir Joseph Hooker 

 gave the name Fitchia to a very striking Pacific Islands genus of 

 arboreus Comj)osltae in 1845, and he dedicated the ninety-fifth 

 volume of the Botanical Magazine to the ''accomplished artist 

 and lithographer of 2500 plates " of that publication, in 1869. 

 From 1880 Fitch was the recipient of a Civil List pension of 

 £100 a year, in recognition of his services to botanical science. 



A rough approximate of the total of the published drawings, 

 as tabulated below, is 9600, and doubtless reached 10,000, count- 

 ing plates illustrating more than one species and diagrams and 

 large folding plates containing many figures. Upwards of 5300 

 of these are coloured, ranging from the octavos of the '' Botanical 

 ilaga?5ine/' the ouartos of the Botany of Ross's Antarctic Voyage, 

 and the folios of the Himalayan flora, to the elephant folio of 



the Vtctoria regia^ 



The compiler of the ensuing bibliography has received much 

 assistance from the family of the deceased artist, and his thanks 



