When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
CHARLOTTE CHANTERFERNY COMBESFirst Edition, 1856Complete with Eight Colored Lithographic PlatesOriginal Gilt Fern Publisher’s Cloth
London: Lovell Reeve, 1856
A scarce and highly appealing first edition of one of the characteristic books of Victorian Pteridomania, the nineteenth-century British craze for collecting, cultivating, studying, and displaying ferns.
Ferny Combes combines natural history, botanical observation, Devonshire topography, picturesque travel writing, and practical fern collecting. Written by Charlotte Chanter, née Kingsley, sister of the celebrated Victorian writer Charles Kingsley, it remains one of the most charming literary records of the Victorian fern craze.
This copy is complete with the color frontispiece and seven additional colored lithographic plates, together with the publisher’s advertisements at the rear. It retains its original dark green publisher’s cloth binding, decorated on the upper cover with a large gilt fern frond.
A Classic of Victorian Pteridomania
During the middle decades of the nineteenth century, ferns became one of Britain’s most fashionable natural-history interests.
Collectors searched cliffs, glens, valleys, hedgerows, ruins, damp walls, and wooded lanes for unusual species. Ferns were cultivated in Wardian cases, displayed in homes, represented in decorative arts, and studied by an expanding audience of amateur botanists.
Chanter’s book captures this enthusiasm in an unusually personal form. Rather than presenting a dry botanical catalogue, she leads the reader through the landscapes of Devonshire, combining field observation with descriptions of scenery, local geography, and the pleasures of collecting.
The result is part botanical guide, part travel book, and part literary evocation of the Devonshire countryside.
The title refers to the distinctive “combes” or steep wooded valleys of North Devon, whose shaded and humid conditions made them especially rich in ferns.
Charlotte Chanter and the Kingsley Family
Charlotte Chanter was born Charlotte Kingsley, sister of the novelist, clergyman, and natural-history writer Charles Kingsley, author of The Water-Babies and Westward Ho!
She spent part of her childhood in Clovelly, Devon, and later lived in the North Devon area. Her familiarity with the landscape gives Ferny Combes the quality of a local and personal guide rather than a generalized botanical survey.
The Kingsley family connection adds considerable literary and historical interest. Charles Kingsley is closely associated with the cultural history of the Victorian fern craze, while Charlotte produced one of its most distinctive literary guides.
Chanter’s work is also an important example of nineteenth-century women’s natural-history writing, offering an accessible and companionable approach to field observation and botanical collecting.
Complete with Eight Colored Plates
The volume is complete with:
- One colored frontispiece
- Seven additional colored lithographic plates
- Eight colored plates in total
The plates combine botanical studies of fern species with the visual appeal of Victorian color printing.
They give the book particular interest to collectors of:
- Botanical illustration
- Ferns and pteridomania
- Victorian color lithography
- Natural-history books
- Decorative publisher’s bindings
The colored plates remain visually attractive, despite the age-related foxing described below.
Publisher’s Advertisements
The publisher’s advertisements remain present at the rear.
Their survival is useful bibliographically and adds to the completeness and original character of the copy.
Original Gilt Fern Binding
The book retains its original dark green publisher’s cloth binding.
The upper cover is decorated with a large central gilt fern frond, an unusually appropriate and visually effective design. The binding directly advertises the subject of the book rather than relying on generic Victorian ornament.
The spine is lettered in gilt:
FERNY COMBES
with a small gilt ornament and:
L. REEVE
at the foot.
The gilt fern on the upper cover remains clearly visible and attractive. The original coated endpapers are also present.
The binding is an important part of the book’s appeal and is particularly desirable for collectors of Victorian pictorial cloth.
Devonshire and Natural History
Chanter’s rambles lead through the glens, valleys, and coastal scenery of Devonshire, an area that became increasingly accessible to Victorian tourists during the nineteenth century.
The book is therefore of interest in several overlapping fields:
- Fern collecting and pteridomania
- Victorian natural history
- Devonshire topography
- Women’s writing
- Charles Kingsley and the Kingsley family
- Nineteenth-century tourism
- Botanical illustration
- Victorian publisher’s cloth bindings
The book’s combination of literary charm, local observation, and botanical enthusiasm makes it considerably more than a conventional fern manual.
Bibliographical Details
Author: Charlotte Chanter, née Kingsley
Title: Ferny Combes: A Ramble After Ferns in the Glens and Valleys of Devonshire
Publisher: Lovell Reeve
Place of publication: London
Date: 1856
Edition: First edition
Pagination: 118 pages, with publisher’s advertisements at rear
Illustrations: Eight colored lithographic plates, including frontispiece
Binding: Original dark green publisher’s cloth
Decoration: Large gilt fern on upper cover; gilt spine lettering and ornament
Endpapers: Original coated endpapers
Language: English
Subject: Ferns, botanical collecting, Devonshire, Victorian natural history, pteridomania
Condition
Good to Very Good overall. Complete and unrestored in the original publisher’s binding.
The original dark green cloth remains present and attractive, with the large gilt fern on the upper cover still clearly visible and decorative.
There is wear and fraying at the head of the spine, including some small areas of cloth loss. The foot of the spine and corners show additional rubbing and age-related wear. The boards have scattered small marks and surface wear consistent with use.
The gilt spine lettering remains readable, and the binding remains structurally sound overall.
The inner gutter areas show some exposure, but the boards remain attached and the volume remains usable.
The contents have moderate foxing, heavier in places, particularly on the preliminary leaves and in some margins. The colored plates remain attractive and retain their decorative impact.
The original coated endpapers are present.
A vintage St. Brandon’s School, Bristol label is mounted on the front pastedown, with a small manuscript shelf notation beneath. No significant institutional markings have been noted elsewhere.
The book is complete with all eight colored plates and the publisher’s advertisements at the rear.
Please examine all photographs carefully, as they show the actual copy offered and form an important part of the condition description.
Collector Interest
A scarce and appealing first edition of one of the defining books of Victorian fern culture.
This copy is especially desirable because it combines:
- First-edition status
- Complete eight colored plates
- Original gilt fern publisher’s cloth
- The literary connection to Charles Kingsley
- Women’s natural-history writing
- Devonshire travel and topography
- The cultural history of pteridomania
- Original publisher’s advertisements
A wonderfully representative Victorian botanical book: a fern-hunting guide written by Charles Kingsley’s sister, illustrated with colored lithographs, and preserved in its original green cloth binding stamped with a large gilt fern.
An attractive and collectible first edition for collectors of botanical books, Victorian decorative cloth, women writers, Devonshire, natural history, and nineteenth-century illustrated books.
