A highly regarded book artist from the early 20th century, Margaret Neilson Armstrong often created book cover designs with floral motifs. A botanist as well as an artist, Armstrong wrote the first comprehensive field guide of its kind, the Field Book of Western Wild Flowers (1915). Additional Armstrong-designed books about plants in the Athenaeum collection include several books by Frances Theodora Parsons, notably According to Season: Talks about the Flowers and How to Know the Ferns.
Born in 1867 in New York City, Armstrong was active from the turn of the century to the end of World War II. Inspired by Art Nouveau and stained glass, she designed some of the most beautiful covers of the era, including stunning examples in our collection: Italian Backgrounds by Edith Wharton; Tattle Tales of Cupid by Paul Leicester Ford; and The Unknown Quantity by Henry Van Dyke. Athenaeum curator Elaine von Bruns noted that “Armstrong is notable for her invention of memorable series styles for authors such as Myrtle Reed and Henry Van Dyke, choosing lavender book cloth for the Reed novels and a deep blue cloth for the Van Dyke books.”