Beautifully inspired plates from The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, by Edith Holden, 1908 made by Noritake, circa 1977. Each plate sold separately, from a highly collectible pattern. Discontinued 1991 These vintage lovelies sell for $33.95 a piece on different china replacement web sites. Each are in excellent condition, and measure 8 1/8 in. I have 9 total plates and will be happy to combine shipping.
These would make a beautiful gift for the naturalist, bird lover or someone who appreciates charm and classic Audubon style. The plates depict Edith Holden's art and notes are from her publication Nature Notes from 1906, more below....
"Sour over their heads blittie. April airs shall sing; A thousand wild flowers round them shall unfold. The green birds glisten in the dews of spring. And all be vernal rapture as of old"...J. Keble
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Holden
Edith Blackwell Holden (26 September 1871 – 15 March 1920) was a British artist and art teacher. She was born in Kings Norton, Birmingham.[1] She became famous following the posthumous publication of her Nature Notes for 1906, in facsimile form, as the book The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady in 1977, which was an enormous publishing success. These, and her life story, were later the subject of a television dramatisation.
http://www.countrydiary.co.uk/country_diary_history
Edith's diary for 1906 passed through the family of her husband Ernest until it was inherited by her great niece Rowena Stott, herself an artist and designer. Rowena recalls as a child frequently looking at the diary and being fascinated by the beautiful and delicate watercolours of flowers and nature. While a student at Exeter she took the diary to a local publisher, Webb & Bower, who were equally fascinated by the diary and signed an agreement with Rowena to publish it in a facsimile edition and renamed it 'The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady'.
The book was first published by Webb and Bower in 1977 in conjunction with London based publisher Michael Joseph and it became an immediate publishing sensation. The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady entered the Sunday Times publishing best sellers list where is stayed for a record breaking 63 weeks earning it a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. Additionally it was recently named by the Sunday Times as the best-selling book of the 1970s, and remains at No. 4 in the overall best-seller lists of the last 40 years.
The success of the book quickly led to interest in the development of merchandise based upon Edith's illustrations. The first products were a range of greetings cards that were marketed by Elgin Court a leading card company at the time. These were followed by the development of highly successful ranges of ceramics, stationery, and home furnishings including a successful range of bedding designs from leading bedding manufacturer Dorma, the most popular of which was based on Edith's charming illustration of wild poppies. In time it was possible to collect Country Diary products for every part of the home including a complete Country Diary kitchen. A Country Diary pocket diary was developed for Marks and Spencer and this is still issued each year making it the longest continuously running licence for M&S.
The popularity of Country Diary also led to a range of spin off book titles ranging from books about home furnishings and gardens to guides on wild flowers and butterflies. Interest in Country Diary quickly spread abroad and The Diary of an Edwardian Lady has been published in over 13 languages and merchandise programmes marketed in Europe, Japan and the United States. The success also lead to a twelve part television series being made by Central Television in 1988 based upon the life of Edith Holden which was broadcast both in the UK and internationally.
