Published in 1847 Paris, Les Fleurs Animees may be the most charmingly illustrated plant book ever created. 

While it is written in French, language doesn’t deter us from full enjoyment of its incredible pictures.  There are 28 of them in this archive, each more lovely than the last.  Each image is created with a steel engraving, then hand colored.  This means that every copy of this book had to be individually painted with watercolor, which slowed down reproduction considerably.

The illustrations reflect floral myths and folkore.  This one tells the story of the beautiful Greek god who fell in love with his reflection in the water.  The theme of this book would make beautiful interior decor materials printed on paper or ironed onto cloth.  They’d make a charming collection of lacy pillows or a baby’s fancy quilt. 

 See Les Fleurs Animees at http://www.illustratedgarden.org/mobot/rarebooks/taxa.asp?relation=GR780G731847V1

Margeurite daisy with all her little ones.

NOTE:  This archive of illustrations is softly colored, and those excerpts shown here have been altered to increase color saturation to make them a bit more vivid.   

We at MoPlants are thrilled to have a close working relationship with the Missouri Botanical Garden where their collection of digitized illustrated garden books are beyond compare.  It is without question the best in the world. 

At MoPlants.com we have organized and simplified their digitized book links to help you understand what they are and the kind of images each contains.   http://www.moplants.com/digital_crafts/botanical_archives.php

For ideas and tips on creating and designing with botanical images from the Internet, download our free eBook:  Online Botanical Illustrations at http://www.moplants.com/eBooks.php

You can also purchase quality prints suitable for framing from Les Fleurs Animees through the Missouri Botanical Garden. http://www.mbgpress.info/grandville.htm