Curtis's Botanical Magazine - 20 Volumes bound in 10 with 786 Engravings

Artist or Author: William Curtis

Work: The Botanical Magazine, or Flower-Garden Displayed

Date of Publication: 1790-1804

Style: 20 Volumes with 786 Engravings

Paper Size: ~ 6" by 9 5/8"

Condition: The work is in good to excellent condition overall. There may be a few minor imperfections to be expected with age. Please review the image carefully for condition and contact us with any questions.

Description of the work: These beautiful volumes with 786 botanical engravings is William Curtis’s The Botanical Magazine, or Flower-Garden Displayed. The present copies were published in London between 1790 and 1804 by the author and his son, after Curtis's passing in 1799 and continued byJohn Sims.

There are two volumes bound in ten with full period green straight grain morocco with five raised bands. There is some gilding on the bands and along the borders of the front and back covers. The paper has gold-gilt edges. Includes 786 total engravings, 785 with original hand-coloring, plate 120 is uncolored as issued.

Each plate features a meticulously drawn specimen with an accompanying descriptive text for each (when available). The first 70 volumes (1790 to mid-1800s) were printed using copper etching and then finished with watercolor added by hand. Around the mid-1800s the images were completed by lithography with hand-coloring. Commonly referred to as Curtis' Botanical Magazine, this prolific periodical was first published in 1790 and is still in publication today by the Kew Gardens.

William Curtis (1746-1799) was an English botanist and entomologist. It was Curtis who determined to produce a scientifically accurate journal, and so took care that artists used live specimens for reference.