Priscilla Susan Bury (1799-1872)

Growing up in a well-off family, Susan Bury was surrounded by the imported plants in her family’s gardens and greenhouses. She was drawn to painting flower portraits as one of the few subjects deemed suitable for a woman. Encouraged by friends, she produced a book on Hexandrian plants, (those with six stamens belonging to the amaryllis and lily families), and published them under her husband’s name, Mrs. Edward Bury. Her elegant illustrations are decorative and modern in feeling. In the unsigned preface she wrote in the third person and seemed to distance herself further from ownership. She made a disclaimer customary for women of her time as to “having no pretensions whatever, either to scientific knowledge or extensive research, but aimed at writing common sense in plain English.” The accompanying descriptions of each of the plants provide more information than just a description of the flowers, leaves, stems, and scent. Some refer to books and articles that discuss the plant or give details on where it came from and how it came into the country. Robert Havell Jr. produced the 51 hand-colored engraved aquatints that made up Bury’s work while engaged in printing John James Audubon’s Birds of America in London.