Portraits of Flowers

W.J. Keith is a retired professor of English at the University of Toronto and author A Sense of Style: Studies in the Art of Fiction in English-Speaking Canada.

I can imagine many qualified reviewers for this book: a gardener (which
I am not), a wood engraver (which I am not), an admirer of English prose
(which I am), a lover of finely produced books (which I also am).

The distinction of Portraits of Flowers is partly that it caters to so
many tastes, but more, I think, that, as a joint effort, it combines
arts that are only occasionally found together. The book contains 72
wood engravings by Gerard Brender а Brandis, an artist who has quietly
but surely attained a reputation over the years for engravings of
exquisite detail and precision, especially country scenes and plants.
These are reproduced on the right-hand pages. On the left, Patrick Lima,
author of gardening books and articles, writes page-long accompanying
descriptions that combine botanical information and practical gardening
advice with personal thoughts on each plant and its associations.

The combination is deeply satisfying. Brender а Brandis discovers
formal patterns in the rich luxuriance of vegetation, while Lima allows
his thoughts to ramble purposefully like plant-runners. The drawings are
accurate enough to provide assistance in identification of species but
exist primarily as achieved artistic designs. Lima’s descriptions
offer hints for fellow gardeners but deserve to be relished as examples
of fine prose; indeed, while reading him I was continually reminded of
the wildflower books by Andrew Young, the English poet of mid-century,
especially A Prospect of Flowers.

Finally, Portraits of Flowers is an attractive book to handle. The
paper is well suited to the reproduction of Brender а Brandis’s
engravings; the print is clear and elegant; page design—indeed, every
aspect of the book’s design—is admirable.