Wanted: Illustrations of My Trees

May 20, 2010 8:48 AM

I recently acquired 1.6 acres in Vermont and want to decorate my house with botanical illustrations of the trees on the property. I've found historic drawings by Michaux, Jaume Saint-Hilaire, and Bessa, but it seems as though I can only by prints from one website, and they are around $140 each. There must be a less extravagant option. They need not be historic, but they should be legible and help identify what can be seen through a nearby window.

I'm looking for illustrations of the following trees:

sugar maple
red maple
box elder
white ash
silver maple
basswood
black cherry
flowering crab apple
beech
paper birch
european birch
aspen
eastern white pine
norway spruce
blue spruce
hemlock

posted by billtron to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

Antique botanical prints often pop up on Etsy in the Vintage section. Here's one with Aspen and Ash (among other things) on it-- although it's from a German book, so I don't know how useful that would be.
posted by oinopaponton at 8:56 AM on May 20, 2010

Thats a more than reasonable price for a real print, meaning an artist engraved (or artist directed engraving) plate, inked, pressed to paper. Those are likely to be later prints (and thus less valuable/clear) or modern printings of old plates. All in all, $140 seems very reasonable.

You are probably going to want to look for reproductions of prints (not the same thing as a real print). Framing them yourself can save money.
posted by fontophilic at 8:57 AM on May 20, 2010

Following the Etsy route, you could also request these drawings through Etsy's Alchemy service.
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith at 9:04 AM on May 20, 2010

I have some wonderful illustrations of trees by an artist named (if I recall correctly) Anthony Tyzknik. They're really cute too, as under each tree he drew a person or an animal (examples: a raccoon, an indian, a western pioneer). Unfortunately, googling his name doesn't reveal anything having to do with his art (apparently he was also a landscape architect). I believe my parents acquired these prints in the 1970s. Sorry I can't be of more help, but his illustrations are magnificent.
posted by buckaroo_benzai at 9:11 AM on May 20, 2010

Find a book of botanical prints and frame the pages yourself?
posted by L'Estrange Fruit at 9:47 AM on May 20, 2010

(check your MeFi mail)
posted by brainmouse at 10:06 AM on May 20, 2010

Ebay also generally has a lot of botanical prints.
posted by judith at 10:42 AM on May 20, 2010

You could print them yourself from vintageprintable.com -- for example, here's one of the white ash. Can't get any less extravagant than free! Or even if you choose to have them printed at Kinko's or elsewhere, surely under $5 each.
posted by katemonster at 10:59 AM on May 20, 2010

Just a thought, but you could press and frame leaves from your own trees your self. I know that is not what you are asking about but I thought that it might be along the same lines.
wikihow
posted by d4nj450n at 11:38 AM on May 20, 2010