Jaffrey was the wife of Andrew Thomas Jaffrey, the founding curator in 1878 of the Lloyd Botanic Gardens in Darjeeling, West Bengal.
Jaffrey’s hortus siccus albums of mounted local fern specimens were sold singly and in sets of two and three, although just nine albums are thought to have survived. These albums show the roles taken up by Jaffrey and other colonial wives living in India to document the natural world around them.
Priced at £3250, the album is one of over 100 items brought together in a new travel catalogue by Peter Harrington Rare Books exploring the discoveries and documentation of geographies, voyages, and flora and fauna from around the world.
“At a time when travel has been reduced to a trip to the supermarket and exploration contracted to some of the lesser-walked streets in our neighbourhoods, we are delighted to be able to offer a selection from our extensive holdings in these areas, encompassing books, photographs, autograph letters, and original documentation,” says Peter Harrington’s travel specialist Glenn Mitchell.
Read an interview with Peter Harrington's Pom Harrington, the new president at the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association.
