Plate, Sarracenia Purpurea, Paxton's Magazine of Botany, and Register of Flowering Plants, vol. 3

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Smithsonian Libraries and Archives as part of Botanical Lessons.

Sir Joseph Paxton may be more well known today as the designer of the 1851 Crystal Palace exhibition building in London, but his main occupation at that time was as Head Gardener of Chatsworth House, home to the Dukes of Devonshire since 1549. Paxton was also interested in publishing and landscape and greenhouse design. These passions combined in Paxton’s Magazine of Botany, which was the third title he developed, running from 1834 to 1849. The pages selected here focus on the lavish illustrations that accompanied the detailed texts, which shared the newest developments in botany for amateur and professional gardeners alike.

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Botanical Lessons.