With 84 Very Fine Hand-Coloured Plates of Flowers
Curtis's Botanical - 1828 - London for S. Curtis
Beautifully Bound and Decorated
[Botanical Plates] Curtis, Samuel CURTIS'S BOTANICAL MAGAZINE; OR FLOWER GARDEN DISPLAYED... Conducted by Samuel Curtis the Descriptions by William Jackson Hooker. London For the Proprietor Samuel Curtis 1828
Volume II of the New Series, volume LV of the whole work. With 84 fine and beautiful hand-coloured botanical copper plates by various leading artists, many of which are double fold-outs. Tall 8vo, in a fine signed binding of full green calf by Weitz-Coleman, the boards framed with a gilt chain motif decorated at each corner with with a gilt tooled bee. The spine with an impressive all-over flowering stalk from the foot to the head passing through raised bands and compartments each with additional floral decorations, two of which are also with lettering or numbers in gilt. 84 plates accompanied by 84 leaves of descriptions along with 3 leaves containing the titlepage, dedication and index. Each entry includes the name, scientific classification, place of growth and time of flowering for the plant. Very fine, the plates bright, clean and uncommonly well preserved.
A FINE COPY, BEAUTIFULLY BOUND, WITH 84 EXQUISITE HAND-COLOURED PLATES.
William Curtis (1746-1799) was a trained apothecary living in London, although his passion was for natural history, particularly plants and insects. He maintained a large well-stocked garden and began the publication of the Botanical Magazine in February 1787. It became the most famous and influential botanical publication of its type and it is still published today, making it the longest running scientific periodical of all time.
Curtis edited the first 13 volumes, and was then succeeded by John Simms (1800-1826), William Jackson Hooker (1827-1865) and Joseph Dalton Hooker (1865-1904), the magazine continues in production today. The fine illustrations from this period of its publication were by many artists including Sydenham Edwards, William Graves, James Sowerby, John Curtis, William Jackson Hooker, W.H. Fitch, J. N. Fitch, Matilda Smith, Lillian Snelling and Stella Rose Craig. The plates were hand-coloured up to 1948, all being copper engravings to around 1840, and then stone or zinc lithography until the introduction of color printing in 1948.
$US2450
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