Fanny Elizabeth de Mole (1 March 1835 - 26 December 1866) was a botanical artist who illustrated the first book of flora from the colony of South Australia.[1]
De Mole was born in the residential rooms of Merchant Taylors Hall, London. Her father was John Bamber De Mole and her mother Isabel was the daughter of engineer Henry Maudslay.[2] She migrated to South Australia in 1857 to join two of her brothers.[3]
She wrote and illustrated the first book on wildflowers in that state, Wild flowers of South Australia in 1861.[4][5] In order to achieve colour quality which would not weaken through the printing process, lithographs of the illustrations were prepared in England by Paul Jerrard & Son and hand-coloured in Australia. The book contains 20 hand-coloured lithographed plates. There were an estimated 100 copies made of the original edition of Wildflowers of South Australia,[1] and it is quite difficult to obtain. In 2014 a copy of the book sold at Christie's for $3,750.[6] A facsimile edition of the book was published by Queensbury Hill Press in 1981.[7]
^Ideas and Endeavours –- The natural sciences in South Australia. / Chapter 5 Botany by E.L. Robertson. South Australia : Royal Society of South Australia, 1986.
^Olsen, Penny (2013). Collecting Ladies: Ferdinand Von Mueller and Women Botanical Artists. National Library Australia.