Eric Craig - "New Zealand Ferns" - Complete album of 31 ferns in contemporary Kauri boards - 1886

"New Zealand Ferns"

-With ticket "Bound For Eric Craig, Princes St Auckland"

-Complete 32 pages with - Dedication to "Mrs W Elmore from J.G.G - 1886" - and 31 Ferns

-Beautiful contemporary Kauri boards with original leather spine. 

-30x20cm approx

-Generally very good condition for this fragile work. A few losses of ferns to some pages, some toning and marks. Scattered foxing - worse on the borders of a few pages.

Fern albums were popular high end souvenirs for visitors to New Zealand in the late 19th Century. During the period there was a huge demand for ferns and a craze for collecting ferns - called Pteridomania. Eric Craig, a Scottish born New Zealander, was one of the earliest - and the best known producer of these fine albums in Auckland. This album includes many popular ferns including the Silver fern "Cyathea delbata", the Black tree fern "Cyathea medullaris", Kidney fern "Trichomanes reniforme", and tree ferns "Dicksonia squarrosa".