Flora’s ABC

描述

“Flora’s ABC”. Philadelphia & New York: Turner & Fisher, [ca. 1838-1840]. 25pp, with 24 hand-coloured woodcut illustrations. Original pictorial orange boards. 140 × 94.3 mm.
出版於十九世紀三〇年代末的美國花卉字母書，全書依照較古老的二十四字母排列，以 I兼攝I和J、V兼攝U和V，因此未設獨立的J與U，並非缺頁！每個字母皆配有一種花卉、手工上色木刻插圖及一首四行押韻短詩，從銀蓮花、鳶尾、三色堇到紫杉，讓兒童在學習字母的同時認識植物名稱、詩歌與簡單的道德寓意。封面所列費城及紐約地址，可將其年代推定在約1838年前後。
An early American floral alphabet book published around 1838. The volume follows the older twenty-four-letter alphabet, combining I/J and U/V rather than providing separate entries for J and U; these letters are therefore intentionally absent, not missing. Each letter is paired with a flower, a hand-coloured woodcut and a short rhyming verse, introducing young readers to the alphabet, botanical names, poetry and moral instruction. Flowers represented include the anemone, iris, pansy, nightshade, sweet William and yew. The Philadelphia and New York addresses printed on the cover support a date of approximately 1838.
同版已知藏於UCLA特藏，Ruth M. Baldwin的十九世紀兒童書收藏亦曾著錄一冊。原裝橙色紙板封面有明顯磨損，內頁可見黃化、狐斑與使用痕跡，但二十四組字母內容完整，且手工色彩仍鮮明。鉛筆註記”Mary L. Ehrendorf, Book from Maria Wolf(?).”
A copy of the same edition is held in UCLA Special Collections, while another was recorded in the celebrated Ruth M. Baldwin collection of historical children’s literature. The original orange pictorial boards are heavily rubbed, the pages show foxing, staining and signs of use, but the twenty-four-letter sequence is complete and the original hand colouring remains remarkably vivid. Inscription in pencil “Mary L. Ehrendorf, Book from Maria Wolf(?)”.