‘The Yew Tree at Ankerwyke’, a plate from a disbound copy of Strutt’s Sylva Britannica, or Portraits of Forest Trees… sold for £3500 by Reeman Dansie.
One which lacked its covers and had some other shortcomings of condition, it nevertheless retained a full complement of plates. It was bought by an online bidder at the Colchester sale.
Dedicated by Strutt to John, Duke of Bedford, this is a work whose extended title declares it to contain …Portraits of Forest trees distinguished for their Antiquity, Magnitude, or Beauty… Those plates are in fact dominated by images of oak trees, some 21 of them, but a great many other native species are featured and the plate reproduced here depicts ‘The Yew Tree at Ankerwyke’.
The auction record would seem to be £4700 for a copy offered in 2006 by Dominic Winter.
