The Victorians were passionate about flowers both in their gardens and in their art, leading to a golden age in botanical illustration and the advent of the most superb botanical journals ever published that were extraordinarily successful in both England and America. One of the most beautiful was "The Floral Magazine", a well-loved but short-lived publishing venture that resulted from the collaboration between James Andrews, a very successful botanical illustrator and the Rev. H.H. D'Ombrain. It was devoted 'chiefly to the meritorious varieties of such introduced plants only as are of popular character, and likely to become established favourites in the Garden, Hothouse or Conservatory.' Andrews' talent for drawing flowers from nature in the most meticulous detail is shown to full advantage in his finely handcoloured stone lithographs of the highest quality that are sumptuously reproduced in these pages. Each illustration was accompanied by a text giving the origins of flower, advice on its cultivation and sources of supply, a mine of information for garden lovers but above all a feast for the eyes.