Text: N. P. Willis (?), Review of Emma C. Embury, American Wild Flowers, Evening Mirror (New York), vol. 1, no. 18, p. 2, col. 5

[page 2, column 5, continued:]

AMERICAN WILD FLOWERS, IN THEIR NATIVE BEAUTY, by Emma C. Embury, — D. Appleton & Co., 1844.

This is a volume which we can afford to praise. That lavish Duke, of the olden times, of aristocratic France, who employed the first poets and painters of his day to beautify a souvenir, for his ladye love, only anticipated, by a century of two, the editions de luxe of 1844; and among them, we venture to predict, none will be found to surpass this exquisite specimen of American taste, and American art. Taste, not only natural, but highly cultivated, is the characteristic of Mrs. Embury; and inspired by the subject and its elegant accessaries, she has here surpassed herself. As to the beauty of the flower-gems, and the truth of their beauty, we suppose there can be but one opinion. American wild-flowers, looking at themselves in their own clear lakes, would not see their delicate tints more perfectly reflected; and if we cannot give as high praise to the back-grounds, it is because something was attempted which no skill could have mastered — a proportion and accordance between a highly-finished botanical drawing and a colorless landscape, too wide to be brought within such narrow compass. We hope to find the book on the tables of all our fair friends.