Flora’s Dial: Containing a Flower Dedicated to Each Day in the Year, and an Appropriate Poetic Sentiment for Each Flower

HANSON, J. Wesley (John Wesley, 1823–1901)

Flora’s Dial: Containing a Flower Dedicated to Each Day in the Year, and an Appropriate Poetic Sentiment for Each Flower.

Lowell: Published by Jonathan Allen; Boston: B.B. Mussey, 1846.

FIRST EDITION. 32mo (4¾ x 3 inches). vi, [1], 8–192 pp. Stereotyped and printed by S.N. Dickinson & Co., Boston. Lacking the chromolithographed frontispiece by William Sharp.

Binding: Publisher’s brown embossed cloth with elaborate gilt-stamped floral bouquet to upper cover and ornamental gilt-stamped spine lettered “Flora’s Dial” within scrolling floral devices. Blind-stamped decorative border to both covers; rear cover with blind-stamped floral design. Hinges tight.

Condition: Good. Cloth uniformly sunned and faded from the original deeper brown; gilt stamping remains bright and well-preserved on both covers and spine. Some fraying and small chips at head and foot of spine; minor wear to corners and extremities. Moderate to heavy foxing throughout, with toning and browning to margins. Binding sound and firm. No inscriptions or ownership marks. Lacking the chromolithographed frontispiece.

References: Faxon, Literary Annuals and Gift-Books. BHL Title 133950. OCLC 191310858.

A charming and scarce American floriography book from the height of the Victorian language-of-flowers craze. Hanson dedicates a flower to each day of the calendar year, pairing each bloom with a verse drawn from English and American poetry. The work belongs to a tradition of gift books and birthday books that flourished in antebellum New England, blending botanical sentiment with literary culture. Published simultaneously in Lowell and Boston, this first edition predates the better-known 1850 Mussey and 1856 Cottrell reprintings.

The publisher’s binding is a fine example of the decorative gilt-stamped cloth typical of the period, featuring a prominent floral arrangement on the upper cover that complements the text’s subject. The diminutive 32mo format enhances the book’s appeal as a keepsake or parlour gift. The lithographer William Sharp (1803–1875) was among Boston’s most accomplished chromolithographers; his chromolithographed frontispiece for this volume, here lacking, represents an early example of color printing in American book production.

Scarce. Fewer than ten copies located in institutional holdings worldwide (OCLC). No copies currently in the trade. The 1846 Lowell/Allen first edition is the rarest of the three known printings.