The making of the Highgrove Florilegium

This is about the making, publishing and exhibiting of the very first British Royal Florilegium - The Highgrove Florilegium. 

This post highlights some videos I've not seen before of the process of producing and then exhibiting the florilegium around the world. At the end if more information about the making of the garden at Highgrove - and how you can visit.

Still from the YouTube Video "The Highgrove Florilegium: A Visit with Iain Bain"

The Highgrove Florilegium

This is the first published British Florilegium about a garden. (Previously there has been the Flora Londinensis - which was a collection of plates and descriptions of plants that grow wild in the Environs of London).

It was created to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Prince of Wales (who became the new Patron of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in July).

Painting and horticulture are two major interests of the Prince of Wales - and these were very successfully combined in the project to develop The Highgrove Florilegium.

The publication is limited to just 175 numbered sets of two volumes of 120 watercolours dedicated by the Artists to His Royal Highness which record the plants in the gardens at Highgrove, the family home of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall near Tetbury in Gloucestershire .  The first volume was published by Alecto Publications in April 2008 andThe Prince received his second and final volume in July 2009. 

Two videos (below) show you:

• the making of the two volumes and the technical processes involved in creating a book which will last for hundreds of years
• a little about the artists involved
• more about how the book was exhibited around the world following publication. (I went to one of those exhibitions - at the Garden Museum in London).

Finally there is a list of the different places where some of the original watercolours and the two volumes have been exhibited - and a video about the gardens at Highgrove!

The making of the two volumes

​The first video is about an interview with the distinguished typographer and scholar  Iain Bain, (on the right below) who is a world expert on different printing techniques and the President of the Printing Historical Society.

The video covers the various processes involved in its production: Book Design and Layout, Monotype & Typography, Vignettes, Endpapers, Mould made Paper, Marbled Paper, Printing Plates, Collating and Sewing and Tooling and Gold Embossing

Bain was responsible for the design of two volumes which make up the florilegium.This is a video about the making of the Highgrove Florilegium and highlights 

• just how big a book is which is double Elephant Folio size!
• the design Ian Bain used for how the image and the text were laid on the page
• the drawings for Vignettes and Endpapers by Richard Shirley Smith used on the cover and endpapers and repeat blockings for the spine
• the new monotype font chosen for the text - called the Fairbank by Robin Nicholas Monotype Design
• the mould made paper by St Cuthberts Mill
• the marble paper produced by Victoria Hall (based near Fakenham in Norfolk) - whose business was set up by the Princes Trust
• John Parfitt at St. Ives Westerham Press printed the book using a four colour process and nineteen different colours (not all at once!) with final touch plates to get the right colour (Note: sadly the press has subsequently closed)
• the printing process used - Stochastic Lithography - to produce an outstanding and high quality fine art facsimile of the original watercolours painted of plants, fruit and vegetables in The Prince's garden at Highgrove in Gloucestershire.
• collating & sewing by Stephen Conway of Conways of Halifax - a Fellow of Designer Bookmakers and a professional bookbinder with over thirty years experience of craft bookbinding
•  Tooling & Gold Embossing by James & Stuart Brockman of Brookman Bookbinders. You can see more of their activities and continuing royal connections on their Facebook page

Addison Publications were responsible for the overall project to publish the book

​The Highgrove Florilegium Showreel

The artists and exhibitions

Of course the book started with the artists who worked over a period of some seven years to produce artwork for the book.

The second video covers:

• a little about how artists became involved. (Sadly it does not highlight the role played by Anne-Marie Evans, MA FLS, who developed the diploma course in Botanical Painting at the Chelsea Physic Garden, and a selection panel who ensure that the paintings meet the highest standards.)
• a lot of shots of the exhibitions of the works and the florilegium at different locations around the world including those in London, New York, Haarlem and Tokyo.

You can read about the artists who contributed to this Florilegium on the publisher's website

Publication and Exhibitions

I wrote about the publication of Volume 1 of The Highgrove Florilegium - which was published in April 2008 (in the same week that the Shirley Sherwood Gallery opened at Kew!)

Subsequent to publication, exhibitions of this very important contemporary Florilegium took place around the world.

In date order, the Highgrove Florilegium has been exhibited in:

• USA - New York: The New York School of Interior Design (23 January- 12 April 2008) - This is a review which appeared in ASBA's The Botanical Artist
• USA - California: Highgrove Florilegium at Botanical Center at the The Huntington, Library Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, California (7th November 2008 - 5th January 2009 - Saturdays and Sundays only). The display included 75 of the paintings including those by American Artists Jessica Tcherepnine, Janet Rieck, Kate Nessler and Katherine Manisco.
• UK - London: The Garden Museum, London SE1 7LB (12th May – 8th September 2009) - this is my Exhibition Review: The Highgrove Florilegium at the Garden Museum - which I visited in July 2009 
• Japan - Kyoto - Nijo-jo Castle (8th- 16th October 2009) The exhibition had a microsite in Japanese for this one week exhibition at this UNESCO World Heritage Site for one week only.  This was the first exhibition to have a sample of images from both volumes.
• Japan - Tokyo - Marucube Gallery, Marunouchi (15- 21 January 2010) This included works by acclaimed Japanese botanical artists Mieko Ishikawa, Noriko Tobita, Kumiko Kosuda, Noriko Hasegawa, Junko Iwata, Mayumi Hashi and Erico Tosaki.
• Netherlands - Haarlem: an exhibiition of The Highgrove Florilegium of HRH The Prince of Wales (January 30 until May 9 2010) at Teylers Museum, Spaarne16, 2011CH Haarlem, The Netherlands. The exhibit was part go an impressive exhibition called 'Royal Gardening'. This looked at the development of European botanical art in royal gardens from its heyday in 17th Century to the latest example and the new florilegium.
• Guernsey: Guernsey Museum  (17th September- 31st December 2011) the book and a selection of 73 paintings were displayed for three month
• Austria: Museum der Stadt Bad Ischl (24th April - 4th October 2015) - 30 images were on display as part of the Upper Austria Garden Festival
• USA - Massachusetts: Tower Hill Botanic Garden, Boylston, Massachusetts (October-November 2015)
• USA - Massachusetts:​ Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Wellesley, MA. (February 12- March 12, 2016)

UPDATE July 2018
​You can see a copy of the Florilegium - open at one page - in the New Prince and Patron exhibition in the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace during August and September 2018

Highgrove Florilegium in the Prince & Patron Exhibition in the State Rooms, Buckingham Palace Summer 2018

HRH Prince of Wales - gardens at Highgrove

and finally....

• This is the Highgrove Gardens website - you can arrange to visit the garden between April and October by booking in advance.
• Below is a video about a visit by Alan Titchmarsh to the gardens at Highgrove in Gloucestershire - which is one of the most well-known organic gardens in the United Kingdom.

More Florilegia

You can find out more about other florilegia on

• Florilegia and Flora - a page (in History) which is developing a timeline and categorisation of various Florilegium and Flora developed over time
• Florilegium Societies and Other Groups - this page (in Groups)  lists various Florilegium Societies and other Groups that exist to develop and display artwork related to flowers, trees and plant life in general.