Pick of the week, Aug. 16: Sea weeds from Bermuda

Who knew that you could find actual plant specimens in Special Collections & Archives?  It’s true, we own several books of pressed plants, including this book of pressed sea vegetation from Bermuda.

Cover of Bermuda 1890Bermuda 1890 was handmade out of blue-green paper, with hand-painted oceanfront scenes on the front and back covers.  Inside, 45 different specimens of sea weeds were pressed onto cardstock, and then sewn onto the pages of the book.  Unfortunately, we don’t know who collected all these sea plants and made the book, but it’s obvious that they put a lot of time and care into the project.  If there are any sea plant experts out there, come take a look!  Perhaps you will even  be able to help us identify some of the plants…

Bermuda 1890 page openingBermuda 1890 specimen 1

 

Bermuda 1890 specimen 2

Bermuda back cover

 

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