Rosa

Roses have been cultivated and refined from the wild forms in nature as no other flower in history and today there are countless cultivated sorts in a rich variety of forms and colours - everywhere in the private gardens and collected in rosaries - special rose gardens - in many parks. 

The LIFE Library has a large amount of the many published books concerning the 'queen of flowers'. Under here selected illustrations from some of the illustrated works in the historical collections - an outstanding example is the botanical-horticultural masterpiece "Les Roses" (1817-24) containing 168 folios in 3 big volumes by the 'Rafael of flowers' Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840). The Library's edition is a facsimile from 1978 supplemented by a volume with commentaries.

Flora Danica's (1766-1883) illustrations of the wild Danish roses  - a selection:

(The entire Flora Danica is available online via The Royal Library)