Fern Fever: The Story of Pteridomania - Victorian Terrarium Craze

Bell jar style terrarium ad, from the book "Fern Fever" Collecting ferns and moss was quite the fashion for the Victorians, so much so that one might have called it an obsession. Fern enthusiasts traded and promenaded their fantastical ferns, going as far as making treks out to the wild to collect rare specimens. An over-enthusiastic, fern-seeker even tumbled to her death while reaching for an elusive cliff-dwelling specimen. Sarah Whittingham traces this phenomenon in her glossy book "Fern…

Victorian Terrariums

Wardian Case

Victorian Greenhouses