There are always flowers

There are always flowers for those who want to see them. 

Henri Matisse 

This week is British Flowers Week! This is a week-long celebration of British flowers and the UK cut flowers industry, and it has been making us think about all the flowers we have in our collections here. We have decided to feature some of our favourites below!

One of our most special items is this eighteenth-century harpsichord – the most famous harpsichord in the world! More copies have been made of this harpsichord than any other in the world, and it was used as the model for the first harpsichord built in the revival period. Look at the beautiful flower detailing on it:
flowerweek4

Find more information here.

To turn to our manuscript collections, the flowers in the margins of MS 195, our fifteenth-century copy of Virgil’s Georgics camouflage a variety of interesting creatures:

flowersweek3

© The University of Edinburgh. Find more information here.

We also have many modern fiction books that feature flowers. Why not borrow Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose (PQ4865.C6 Eco.) to read this summer?  Alternatively, we have The Black Tulip, by Alexandre Dumas (PQ2229 Dum.)! What is your favourite flower-related book?

Remember, the library has more than textbooks! Flowers are everywhere if you look for them!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *