Background:

These beautiful fruit prints are from reports of the Chief Pomologist of the United States Department of Agriculture published in the late 1800s. While the reports were very technical in nature, the accompanying colorful prints are very collectable. The original illustrations in the series presented here were completed either by D. G. Passmore or William Prestele.

The prints portray "Promising New Fruits" for which the Department of Agriculture received specimens.  As stated in the reports "Many of these varieties have not yet been introduced nor offered for sale by their originators".