Anne Pratt (1806 – 1893) wrote more than 20 books. She was an ornithological and botanical illustrator. She illustrated the books with chromolithographs and she worked in collaboration with an engraver William Dickes, who was skilled in the chromolithograph process. Anne was the second of 3 daughters of Robert Pratt who was a grocer, and Bundock Sara. He was one of the best known botanical illustrators of the Victorian age in England. Owing to a 'stiff knee' in childhood and poor health, she never participated much in the outdoor activities and many encouraged her to occupy herself by drawing. Dr. Dods introduced her to botany. Dr. Dods was a family friend. Anne was educated at Eastgate House, Rochester. Later on, she moved to London (Brixton), where she developed her career as an illustrator. In 1849 she decided to settle in Dover, and then in 1866 she settled in East Grinstead, where she married Pearless John; the couple then moved to Redhill.
Her works were said to be accurate though they were written in popular style. The books are partly responsible for the popularizing of botany in her day. Some of her selected works include among others The Field, the Garden, and the Woodland, Flowers and their associations, The Flowering Plants, Sedges, Grasses, The Ferns of Great Britain, Wild Flowers, Poisonous, Noxious, and Suspected Plants, and The Pictorial Catechism of Botany. From her first book, her work sold well, but she never achieved critical approbation. This is attributed to prejudice against her just because she was self-taught.
