Victorian Posy: Photo Album

by Sheila Pickles

A treasury of poetry, prose, and art celebrating the charm and beauty of the English garden, with marbled endpapers, slipcase, and silk ribbon marker. 74 full-color illustrations.

Genres: Poetry, Art

110 pages, Hardcover

First published December 8, 1990

About the author

Sheila began her career working for Franco Zeffirelli in the worlds of theatre, film and opera in Italy in the 60s. "He was my education," says Sheila. "He was the first one to open my eyes to the whole world of the Arts. In Rome beauty was all around me." At Zeffirelli's suggestion she took over the dying business of Penhaligon's - the historic perfume house making colognes and special preparations for discerning gentlemen - and spent the next two decades brilliantly bringing the business back to International life. Starting with the launch of several exquisite new scents, her creativity took her into designing original luxury gifts and finally into publishing. Sixteen unique scented anthologies of verse and prose redefined the giftbook market including the international bestseller, The Language of Flowers. Two million copies sold!

With the Objets d'Art Jewellery website, Sheila has created a 21st century version of her books, now on line for the next generation. Showing the inspiration and provenance of the jewellery gives a special meaning to which everyone can immediately relate. "Working in the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence with Zeffirelli during the Florence Flood in 1966 was a cathartic time for me", says Sheila. "This was when I realised for the first time the full value of the past and what it can offer us in the future."

Sheila’s creative spark and enormous energy are taking her into a new world, mastering website technology and new marketing techniques in a different direction close to her heart - the beauty of jewellery.

Sheila has two children, James who works in film and Charlotte who is a make-up artist. Charlotte has lent us her beautiful face and is one of the jewellery models.

Reviews

[Vic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real sweet book of flowers and forest enchantment. A good reminder to delve in simple pleasures

[Chimen Georgette Kouri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute lil’ book about flowers and Victorian poetry 💐

[Eve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was pure perfection. Every one of my senses was utilised here which only served to enhance the experience. There were some wonderful poetry and prose that I shall certainly look upon again in the future.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

The major draw for this particular book when it was in the used bookstore for us was the fact that it is a book that comes with its own particular aroma and not the type one is used to when it comes to old musty book aromas. As such it was fascinating in its own right and a must-grab at least to include it on a shelf where it could stand out from some of the other books around it.

A Victorian Posy did throw me off since instead of it being about flower language of the Victorian times it is actually a compilation of poetry and excepts from Victorian-minded authors while having a few decorative instructions thrown in for good measure. As such this book was hard for me to figure out where exactly on the shelf it belongs.

The elements of this book that I did enjoy the most was the fact that the author and/or publisher chose to pair the illustrations with the actual excerpt or poem. As such if the writing is about roses you are likely to find roses on the included illustrations or daisies for a poem on daisies, etc. This cleverness along with the wonderful art style sealed the book for me....

Another element I like is that the book does a great job in flowing. Although summer has the most "articles" followed by spring then autumn and finally winter they aren't made to be seen individually. Instead the reader at the end of the section will find themselves reading excerpts and poems that allude to the next season even all the way at the end of the book when spring is about to renew itself. This is probably the most creative flow I have seen in quite a while.

Another thing is that each season is introduced on its own page and includes a quote for that section. The sharp-eyed reader will eventually discover that these quotes are individually taken from various "articles" included in that particular seasonal section thus allowing everything to stay within the book.

And finally the last element I appreciated was the inclusion of what Penhaligon was, the history behind the making of this particular scent (it is still strong after thirty-five years at this time of writing) and the mere thought of sharing that with readers instead of just allowing it to become a temporary exhibit.

Even with all this there were other problems that I saw with this book. First of all the fact that the illustrations were wonderfully realistic, rich and full of detail that I was intrigued to know more about the artists. Unfortunately there isn't really much information to go on even in the back included list since apparently the illustrations were pulled from an online collection and few have signatures included.

And my last complaint with this book was the fact that most of the selections chosen just weren't something that really struck me as standing out. True there was plenty of big names - Robert Louis Stevenson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Dickinson, Alfred Tennyson, Charles Dickens, etc. - that were contributing but the included works weren't at least to me very memorable in the least although if I read some of the Classics I may see again.

All in all this is a book whose great illustrations, its wit towards the set-up of the book and also included its long-lasting perfume will leave an impression on any who come into contact with this unique book

[Vivian Wiltshire · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an absolutely gorgeous book, hardbound, marbled end papers and beautiful victorian illustrations, wonderful to look through over and over again. Although I am not particularly a fan of poetry I did enjoy this book. There were many authors I was familiar with and it was really nice to read through these seasonal verses, but I have to say my favourite part was how beautiful this book it and loved looking at all the illustrated pages. I really enjoyed this book and have no doubt I will be looking through it again and again. What a wonderful thrift shop find. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars!!

[Sarah Dunmire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful matchings of artwork to the poem subjects. It would have been nice to label the art, though. The collection of poetry goes from Spring to Summer to Autumn to Winter with flowers as the subjects. I liked three of them: Another Spring by Christina Rossetti, Winter Violets by Edith Nesbit, and Flower Chorus by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

[Ace · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous book with a lovely floral scent to its pages, and an amazing selection of poetry, prose, and excerpts from several different books. An immersive experience, and surreal to feel a connection to writers who lived nearly two centuries ago, all through our shared love of flowers.

[alondra torres · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sweet little poetry book about the four seasons, flowers, and love. Filled with beautiful artwork that matches each poem, diary entry, and excerpt from other novels, it’s a nice getaway when you want to read something that brings you the feeling of sitting in a meadow full of flowers.

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, seasonal poetry.

[Laura Plummer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept was fun, but I realized how little I know about flowers and flower names haha. I found most of the sections were too “old English” for my simple mind. But I did love the pictures.