Adopt-a-Book

An Initiative of the Friends of the University of Adelaide Library

Orchid paintings

Rosa Fiveash (1854-1938)
Adelaide, ca. 1906-1932
8 vol.; 36 cm.

Rare Books & Special Collections
Strong Room Oversize SR/E 584.15 F56o

We thank our donors...

Conservation treatment of six of the Rosa Fiveash volumes was generously funded by Adopt-a-book donor, Diana Laidlaw. An anonymous donor funded the restoration work required on the remaining two volumes. Together, their contributions ensured this important piece of South Australian history could be restored in its entirety.

Synopsis

One of the most accomplished and best known South Australian botanical artists of the late 19th and early 20th century, Rosa Catherine Fiveash was born in Adelaide in 1854 and studied at the Adelaide School of Art and Design from 1881 to 1888. Her drawings, both beautiful and meticulously accurate, were highly sought after and she was commissioned from 1882 to illustrate John Ednie Brown’s Forest Flora of South Australia. Although she also painted illuminated addresses and pioneered china-painting in Adelaide, her main love was flower painting. Much of her finest work was produced during her thirty-year collaboration with Richard S. Rogers, including the illustrations for South Australian orchids, 1911. The Library’s copy of Orchid paintings, ca. 1906-1932, is a collection of scientifically accurate orchid illustrations painted under the direction of Rogers.

Original Condition

Eight folio size volumes, two bound in leather and six bound in cloth, with various degrees of cover and internal wear. All albums have acidic board leaves onto which the artworks have been affixed with either paper or Sellotape straps or via a slit-style attachment system. The acidic boards are contributing to the degradation of the artwork paper and potentially to the pigments.

Conservation by Anthony Zammit

Volumes 1 & 2
All artworks removed from the album leaves.  Paper and Sellotape straps, used to hold down the artworks at each corner, removed from the album pages.  Artwork paper and album leaves cleaned to reduce the amount of visible residue left by the degraded adhesive.  Acid free paper supports created, onto which the artwork could be hinged (with Japanese paper) to the album leaves.  Acid free pastedowns also added to pages opposite each painting to prevent the migration of acid to the face of the artwork.  Front and rear board corners of volume 2 repaired with custom-dyed blue cloth.


Volume 3
Repairs to all artworks as per volumes 1 & 2.  Front and rear board corners repaired with custom-dyed blue cloth.  Oversize artwork (no. 35), which had been folded and adhered to the last album leaf, removed and mounted separately in a custom-made matte board frame.





Volume 4
Repairs to all artworks as per volumes 1 & 2.  This volume, arguably the most degraded of the set, was rebacked, with the original backstrip saved and glued to the new material.  Front and rear board corners consolidated and recovered with black cloth.  Torn and delaminated hinges were also reinforced and readhered.





Volume 5
Repairs to all artworks as per volumes 1 & 2.  Spine rebacked, with the original backstrip saved and reapplied to the new material.  All board corners consolidated and recovered with matching blue cloth.






Volumes 6 & 8
Repairs to all artworks as per volumes 1 & 2.  Both albums entirely rebacked and all worn board corners recovered with matching leather.  Spines and inside broken joints reinforced and worn cover edges consolidated.






Volume 7
Repairs to all artworks as per volumes 1 & 2, with art paper removed from a slit-style inset system. Textblock cleaned.