Sarah Price
Sarah Price, who happened to be not only M.F. Lewis' contemporary but also her
virtual neighbor, also produced spectacular images of mycological specimens found
in rural England. Illustrations of the fungi of our fields and woods (1864-1865) off ers an
inventory of common mushrooms that Price found making the countryside in "her
own neighborhood around Shropshire...gay in their abundance." This study is a more
limited one than Lewis' work — covering 72 species only — but Price did
manage to formally publish it as a slim 2 volume set thanks to funding provided by
paying subscribers.
Among Price’s subscribers was William Jackson Hooker,
then director of London's Royal Kew Gardens, to
whom Price dedicated, in her modest words,
"this small contribution to the literature of
botany." In addition to Hooker, about another 200
or so subscribers appear on the front pages of each
of Price's volumes, many a "Sir," "Lord," "Reverend"
and "Mr." among them, but also, a remarkably high
number of "Ladies," "Misses" and "Mrs's." While,
like M.F. Lewis, Sarah Price remains virtually
invisible in the published record of British mycology,
a review of her subscriber list (where women — not
even counting those who appear as part of a couple —
make up 53% of the names represented) makes it
easy to imagine the presence of a kind of vibrant
sisterhood in the Midlands region of 19th century
England, a network of kindred spirits and bright
minds sharing a common fascination with the secrets
to be found in the nooks and crannies of the world around
them — along with a determination to help discover them.
