Fleurs Sauvages et Boix Precieux de la Nouvelle-Zelande

Georgina Hetley (1832-1898) was a self-trained artist who was inspired to paint botanical specimens after attending a lecture by Thomas Cheeseman (1845-1923), botanist and curator of Auckland Museum. From 1884-85, she journeyed around New Zealand studying fresh specimens, enjoying the variety of indigenous flora as well as the magnificent and sometimes treacherous landscape. Hetley then travelled to London where she oversaw the translation of her watercolours into chromolithographs and supervised the printing of her book. Dedicated to the Queen, and highly anticipated, The Native Flowers of New Zealand was praised for its beauty and artistic calibre. 

Hetley’s publication is the only New Zealand flora that can boast a French edition. Edouard Raoul suggested a French edition to Hetley when he met her in New Zealand. At that time, he was travelling the world, with the intention of introducing commercially important plants to French overseas territories. The French edition was published in 1889, coinciding with the Exposition Universelle in Paris. It has a preface written by the French editors, an additional plate showing the ‘vegetable sheep’, and also includes 16 pages devoted to describing New Zealand trees. Only 50 copies were printed, of which only 15 were available for sale.