THE first public exhibition of Edwardian watercolours unearthed on the BBC Antiques Roadshow has opened in Richmond.

A book written and lavishly illustrated by Ida Bogue, born in 1885, goes on show at the Phoenix Fine Arts Gallery in Finkle Street along with limited edition prints of the illustrations. The prints exhibition lasts a month.

The book, Child Hazel, was illustrated between 1912 and 1947 by Bogue, who lived in Dorset, and was kept by her family after her death in 1972. Her great niece eventually took the volume to an Antiques Roadshow and it was hailed as an important discovery.

It contains magical illustrations of fairies similar to those of Cecily Mary Baker, whose Flower Fairy series has been popular since its launch in the 1920s.

Child Hazel tells of a boy who falls asleep by a millpond and is discovered by fairies who spirit him away to their world.

During her lifetime, Bogue wrote and illustrated six volumes, each a different fairy story and each illustrated with a botanist's eye. She sent one to Buckingham Palace for the young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret and left another to a member of her family, but the whereabouts of the others are unknown.

An agent who saw the book on the Antiques Roadshow persuaded the family to look for a publisher and a series of limited edition prints resulted.

Angela Davies, who runs the Phoenix gallery, heard about the book after a visitor called at her premises during a day trip to Richmond.

"It was a fluke really," she said. "I wasn't so sure about an exhibition at first until I heard the story and thought what a great tale it was.

"There are 26 images in limited edition prints, some framed and some unframed."