Background:

These prints are taken from a guide to British ferns.  The illustrations are by John Sowerby, son of James Sowerby, one of the best known of the early English botanical illustrators (see Sowerby's English Botany).   Accompanying the fern illustrations was a scientific description authored by Charles Johnson, a botanical lecturer at Guy's Hospital in London.

An interesting aspect of these prints is the partial hand-coloring of the Ferns, revealing part of the original lithographic impression.  This was typically done in reference works where only enough coloring was provided to assist in identification of the specimens.