Floral Illustrations
of the Seasons

Project Description
Margaret Roscoe’s Floral Illustrations of the Seasons is an early 19th-century botanical guide full of hand-colored aquatint paintings. The book records, with detailed illustrations and descriptions, various flowering plants and their ideal seasons. Roscoe aims to cultivate, in the reader, a love for gardening and botany.

After plenty of waffling between texts, I decided on the Floral Illustrations of Seasons because of its delicious illustrations, dramatic type, and great type-setting opportunities. In doing a little research on how the illustrations were prepared, I learned about the aquatint printing process, in which copper plates were etched, inked, and printed. Roscoe would later use watercolor to render the flowers further. Considering that materiality, I created illustrations for the cover and chapter openers that reference watercolor blotches and washes. Cut into these washes of color are silhouettes of flowers. On the cover, the cutouts hug the book’s title, creating floral portals into the text beneath.

For type, I'm using Artigo for most titles and section openers and Supria Sans for everything else. I use Artigo for its calligraphic qualities, and Supria for its complementary humanistic details.

Original Publication Date
1831

Intended Audience
This contemporary edition is repackaged for a general audience, working both as a practical guide for those curious about learning about these plants and for those looking for aesthetic insight and inspiration. It could be useful for artists who’d like to use it as a reference/inspiration or amateur garden designers. It would certainly be found in a botanical garden’s gift shop.

Trim Size
6 × 9 inches

Text
10/14 Supria Sans × 15p8.25

Manufacturing Specifications
Soft cover with a matte finish