Lot 221: MEE, MARGARET. 1909-1988. Three large folio illustrated works on flowers

MEE, MARGARET. 1909-1988. Three large folio illustrated works on flowers of Brazil and the Amazon, comprising: 1. Flowers of the Brazilian Forests. London: The Tyron Gallery, 1968. Folio. Publisher’s green half morocco gilt and marbled boards, green cloth slipcase. Limited edition, no. 186 of 506. Wear and minor staining to slipcase. 2. Flowers of the Amazon. Rio de Janeiro: Record, 1980. Folio. Text in Portuguese and English. Publisher’s green cloth gilt, matching slipcase. Limited edition, no. 780 of 1,000. Wear to slipcase. 3. Brazilian Bromeliads. São Paulo: privately printed for SLP Engineering, 1992. Portfolio of 8 loose plates, text leaf with portrait photograph and eulogy for Mee. Green cloth portfolio, blind-stamped titles on top cover, green paper internal chemise. Limited edition, no. 229 of 500. Light wear to portfolio case, some ink transfer from chemise to text leaf. Margaret Mee was an English botanical artist and conservationist. She moved to Brazil in her 40s and began exploring the Amazon with her husband, making drawings and paintings of the plants and flowers she found there. In more than 30 years of painting the flora of the Amazon, she discovered and recorded several new species. She and her husband returned to England in 1988, where the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew was hosting an exhibit of her work. Tragically, she was killed in a car accident that year.