Clarence Bicknell - The Casa Fontanalba Visitors' Book

A set of limited edition prints of charming and highly decorative wild flower watercolours, taken from the Casa Fontanalba Visitors’ Book of 1906.  Each print is signed in aid of The Woodland Trust by its president Clive Anderson, or by the playwright Alan Ayckbourn, or by the novelist Frederick Forsyth, or by the singer and songwriter Chris de Burgh.

Clarence Bicknell (27 August 1842 – 17 July 1918) was a British vicar, archaelogist, botanist, artist, Esperantist, author and philanthropist. In 1906 he decided to build his own summer house in the valley at Casterino on the French-Italian border in the Alps. This he called Casa Fontanalba and the interior he decorated with his own paintings, carvings and other craft work with botanical and archaeological themes in a style inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement. Every opening of the Visitors' Book is illustrated by Clarence Bicknell with water colours of flora of the region on the right page. The left hand pages were left empty so that guests who stayed at the Casa Fontanalba could sign their name and the date.