Scientist of the Day - Edward Joseph Lowe
Cheilanthes viscosa, a fern, chromoxylograph, Ferns: British and Exotic, by Edward Joseph Lowe, vol. 4, 1858-64 (Linda Hall Library)
Edward Joseph Lowe, an English botanist and meteorologist, was born in Nottingham on Nov. 11, 1825, and died on Mar. 10, 1900, at age 74. He was known for his meteorological work and was admitted to the Royal Society because of that, but most of his publications were encyclopedias of British ferns. We have one of those in our collections, an 8-volume work called Ferns: British and Exotic (1858-64). It is a handsome set, containing at least a hundred chromoxylographs (woodcuts printed in color from multiple blocks). But I doubt we would be showcasing it, were it not for the curious fate of one of the volumes, volume 4.
Portrait of Edward Joseph Lowe, undated image in an unknown medium, probably lithograph, Nottingham (blogs.nottingham.ac.uk)
Title page, Ferns: British and Exotic, by Edward Joseph Lowe, vol. 4, 1858-64 (Linda Hall Library)
I have volume 4 open on the desk before me, and I chose 3 appealing plates to reproduce for you. Two of them I selected because they have at least two contrasting shades of green, which is what a chromoxylograph allows you to do, by using a separate woodblock for each color. You can see the results better when you magnify things, as I did in our fifth image.
Woodwardia radicans, a fern, chromoxylograph, Ferns: British and Exotic, by Edward Joseph Lowe, vol. 4, 1858-64 (Linda Hall Library)
Detail of Lomaria punctulata, a fern, chromoxylograph, Ferns: British and Exotic, by Edward Joseph Lowe, vol. 4, 1858-64 (Linda Hall Library)
But it was not the woodcuts that won volume 4 of our copy of Lowe's Ferns further fame, but the spine (sixth image).
Spine of vol. 4, Ferns: British and Exotic, by Edward Joseph Lowe, 1858-64 (Linda Hall Library)
In 2004, the Kansas City Public Library (KCPL) decided to erect a gigantic "community bookshelf" on the facade of their downtown parking garage. The community selected their 22 favorite titles, but for the actual spines for those titles, the design firm came to us, the Linda Hall Library. We pulled scores of rare books from our vault, with a variety of good-looking and distinctive spines, which were photographed, cut up and pasted to foam board, and then winnowed and shuffled around until the most aesthetically attractive sequence of 22 spines was obtained. The newly chosen favorite-book titles were assigned, and construction began. The final result was unveiled in (I think) 2006. We see in our last image the right-hand side of the exterior. There are 11 more giant book spines on the other side. They have proved to be immensely popular with tourists and locals alike.
Right half of the giant community bookshelf on the exterior of the Kansas City Public Library Parking Garage; the spine of the book at far right, Romeo and Juliet, was taken from the spine of vol. 4 of Ferns: British and Exotic, by Edward Joseph Lowe (theclio.com)
And Lowe's Ferns? Volume 4 was one of those selected, perhaps because of its distinctive blind-stamping and gold lettering. It appears in the far right of our last image, right next to Charlotte’s Web, magically transformed into Romeo and Juliet.
For other mentions of books from our collection that served as models for the KCPL Community Bookshelf, see our posts on Johann Glauber, Pierre Bayle, and Joannes Johnston.
William B. Ashworth, Jr., Consultant for the History of Science, Linda Hall Library and Associate Professor emeritus, Department of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City. Comments or corrections are welcome; please direct to ashworthw@umkc.edu.
