Transylvania Florilegium

When HM King Charles III, then HRH The Prince of Wales, first visited Transylvania in the 1990s he was 'totally overwhelmed by its unique beauty and its extraordinarily rich heritage'. He has since acquired property in the Saxon Village of Viscri and the more remote Zalanpatak.

His Majesty saw the importance of this beautiful landscape, rich in meadows, with flora that is extremely rare and vulnerable to changes in farming methods. His Majesty suggested it should be recorded in the form of a florilegium. The Transylvanian Florilegium would be a means of drawing wider attention to the precious flora. It would not only be a splendid and important publication but also an appeal for the protection of the environment, since the traditionally managed grassland is fundamental to the landscape in a centuries-old managed ecosystem.

The botanist Dr John Akeroyd FLS, an authority on European plants who has been working on Transylvanian flora for over fifteen years, drew up a list of important plants and together with Helen Allen FLS, artist and Principal of The School of Botanical Art at The Chelsea Physic Garden, accompanied a highly accomplished group of international artists to Romania. The group was made up of leading botanical artists from America, Australia, England, France, Holland, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland and Turkey.

In a project that took over six years,  124 botanical illustrations have been completed - campanula, crocus, gentian, geranium, hepatica, hellebore, iris and orchids to name but a few.  As with the Highgrove Florilegium, the paintings have been through a rigorous selection panel of artists, botanists and art historians to ensure a high standard of work.

Beverly ALLEN,
Helen ALLEN,
Martin ALLEN,
Fay BALLARD,
Gillian BARLOW,
Christine BATTLE,
Marie-Christine BOUVIER,
Andrew BROWN,
Gillian CONDY,
Celia CRAMPTON,
Angélique DE FOLIN,
Gillian FOSTER,
Sarah GOULD,
Lucinda GRANT,
Isık GÜNER,
Noriko HASEGAWA,
Mayumi HASHI,
Junko IWATA,
Heeyoung KIM,
Flappy LANE FOX,
Chrissie LIGHTFOOT,
Jill MAYHEW,
Kate NESSLER,
Susan OGILVY,
John PASTORIZA PIÑOL,
Jenny PHILLIPS,
Elaine SEARLE,
Laura SILBURN,
Lucy SMITH,
Sally STRAWSON,
Mary Ellen TAYLOR,
Vicki THOMAS,
Julia TRICKEY,
Anita WALSMIT SACHS-JANSEN,
Amanda WARD,
Susan WORTHINGTON

The traditional processes used in producing the Highgrove Florilegium, will be repeated for the Transylvania Florilegium. Images will be scanned at actual size before being printed in England on especially-made archival paper. The text is printed on Somerset paper, again in a special making for this publication. The sheets are collated and sewn by hand in the bindery of Stephen Conway, who runs one of the few craft binderies in England.  The Transylvania Florilegium is presented as a two-volume work, half-bound in dark green chieftain goat skin with hand-marbled paper sides.  The leather is specially prepared and dyed by J. Hewit and Sons in Edinburgh while Jemma Lewis produces every sheet of marbled paper by hand on an English paper from Cumbria. Especially cut tools have been made for James and Stuart Brockman, the eminent designer book binders, using designs by artist Richard Shirley Smith. Each book is hand finished using gold leaf. Before delivery to a new subscriber, every volume is wrapped in a hand-crafted felt cover, made in Scotland by Liz Gaffney of Heartfelt by Liz.

The book design was made and completed by Iain Bain of Hertfordshire.

His Majesty King Charles III, who has written the Preface, has kindly agreed to sign each set.  The edition is limited to 150 hand-numbered copies.