The Herefordshire Pomona is a 19th century catalogue of the apple

Apple

The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...

s and pear

Pear

The pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent....

s that were grown in the county

County

A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...

 of Herefordshire

Herefordshire

Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It was one of the first attempts to fully catalogue the existing varieties of English fruit and has been called "a classic of late Victorian natural history". Only 600 copies were ever printed and originals now fetch high prices whenever they are sold.

Over a period of about ten years in the late 19th century, the Pomona Committee of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club

Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club

The Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club is a local society devoted to the natural history, geology, archaeology, and history of Herefordshire, England...

 of Hereford held an annual autumn show featuring the local varieties of apples and pears. The club members were worried that although Herefordshire was famous for its orchards "it was very remarkable that so few of the best varieties of apples should appear in the markets, or the fruit shops". At the behest of the committee, Dr Robert Hogg, at the time Vice-President of the Royal Horticultural Society

Royal Horticultural Society

The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...

, author of The Fruit Manual, and editor of the RHS Journal; and local doctor and former president of the Woolhope club, Dr Henry Graves Bull, catalogued and described the fruit displayed at the shows. The descriptions were painstakingly illustrated over a period of eight years by Alice Blanche Ellis and Edith Elizabeth Bull, Robert's daughter.

The book originally appeared in seven issues, the first part appearing in 1878 and the last in 1884, and included the 441 original watercolours produced by Alice and Edith of the different fruits, buds, blossoms of the cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...

s and the blight

Blight

Blight refers to a specific symptom affecting plants in response to infection by a pathogenic organism. It is simply a rapid and complete chlorosis, browning, then death of plant tissues such as leaves, branches, twigs, or floral organs. Accordingly, many diseases that primarily exhibit this...

s which attacked them. The hand-coloured lithographs were done by the Belgian firm of G. Severeyns. Once complete the seven parts were collected together and published by Jakeman & Carver as The Herefordshire Pomona Containing Original Figures and Descriptions of the Most Esteemed Kinds of Apples and Pears. 600 copies were published with pebbled green covers, raised bands and gilt decorative panels. They have become highly sought after and originals can command prices of over £10,000, although the information is now available on CD at a fraction of the price.