London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1885. First edition. Folio. Illustrated with 44 chromolithographed plates by Leighton Brothers after Sinclair. Publisher's olive green cloth-covered beveled boards, pictorially stamped in gilt, light rubbing and scratching to boards and extremities, paper library label at foot of spine; all edges gilt; gift book-plate on front paste-down; front hinge worn; foxing to title-page, circular ink stamp at bottom of same; scattered foxing to text; ink stamps on rear paste-down. Forbes 3736; Great Flower Books, p. 139; Nissen BBI 1848; Stafleu & Cowan 5, 12.024

First edition of this celebrated work on Hawaiian flowers, "one of the most prized of Hawaiian books among collectors." (Forbes). The first book to be dedicated to Hawaiian flora and illustrated in color, "Isabella Sinclair's series of watercolors was by far the most luxurious guide to Hawaiian flora to have been published up to that time, and for sumptuousness it remains unsurpassed" (Don R. Severson, Michael D. Horikawa and Jennifer Saville, Finding Paradise: Island Art in Private Collections, Honolulu, 2002, p. 178). Sinclair explains in the book's preface, "The following collection of flowers was made upon the islands of Kauai and Niihau, the most northern of the Hawaiian archipelago. It is not by any means a large collection, considering that the flowering plants of the islands are said by naturalists to exceed four hundred varieties. But this enumeration was made up years ago, and it is probable that many plants have become extinct since then." (Forbes)

Isabella Sinclair (1842-1900) was a Scottish-born botanist and botanical illustrator. In 1862, she moved with her family to New Zealand, and shortly after married Francis Sinclair. In 1866, she moved to Hawaii, and began painting Hawaiian flora, while collecting information on each species and their habitats.